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Financial Awards

The Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies sponsors several scholarships for AU students.

The Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies has established an award fund for the Campaign Management Institute, the Public Affairs and Advocacy Institute, and the European Public Affairs and Advocacy Institute through the generosity of friends and alumni of the Center. These awards are intended to provide financial assistance to students enrolled in the Institute.

The recipients of the Benefactors Award will be selected on the basis of two criteria: merit and financial need. To apply, please submit a resume, transcript with your most recent GPA (unofficial transcript acceptable), and a 1-2 page cover letter that addresses the two criteria for the award:

  1. Detail merit: previous academic and professional accomplishments and future aspirations.
  2. Detail financial need: including scholarships, loans and expenses.

Campaign Management Institute Benefactors Award

This fund provides a $1,500 award to a student interested in pursuing a career in campaigning. Available to those taking CMI for credit.

Send applications to: ccps@american.edu. In the subject of the email, please indicate if the application is for PAAI, CMI, or EPAAI. Deadlines vary each semester. Please contact CCPS for more information.

Public Affairs and Advocacy Institute Benefactors Award

This fund provides a $1,500 award to a student interested in pursuing a career in lobbying or advocacy. Available to those taking PAAI for credit.

Send applications to: ccps@american.edu. In the subject of the email, please indicate if the application is for PAAI, CMI, or EPAAI. Deadlines vary each semester. Please contact CCPS for more information.

European Public Affairs and Advocacy Margery Kraus Award

This fund provides a $1,500 award to a student or young professional interested in pursuing a career in lobbying or advocacy. Available to those seeking credit and non-credit course options.

The Benefactors Awards are reserved for students seeking academic credit. Please contact CCPS for application deadlines. Only successful applicants will be notified. Contact the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies for more information.

Send applications to: ccps@american.edu. In the subject of the email, please indicate if the application is for PAAI, CMI, or EPAAI.

Bryce Harlow Foundation Scholarship Program

Since 1985, the Bryce Harlow Foundation has awarded fellowships to highly motivated graduate students who are pursuing a career in professional advocacy through public affairs, government relations or lobbying. The award includes $6,000 for tuition assistance and various networking and mentorship opportunities.

For more information, email info@bryceharlow.org.

Please visit the for more information and instructions on how to apply.

Bryce Harlow Ethics and Lobbying Workshop Essay Contest

Every year CCPS and the Bryce Harlow Foundation jointly sponsor the Bryce Harlow Workshop on Ethics and Lobbying. In conjunction with this course, students are required to write a paper about the topic of ethics in lobbying. Students taking the workshop are encouraged to submit their papers for the workshop essay contest, which features a $250 prize for the best essay. The award winner is also honored at the SPA Awards Ceremony.

AU students wishing to take the workshop and enter the essay contest can register for the workshop like any other AU course online. Non-AU students interested in the workshop should contact the CCPS office. Please visit the Foundation's website to .

Gill Family Foundation Scholarship 2024

To Support a Dissertation Using Quantitative Methods

The Gill Family Foundation announces a $5,500 scholarship for dissertation support to a PhD student working on a dissertation in the areas of American Politics, Comparative Politics, Public Administration, or Policy Analysis at American University using quantitative methods.

The Gill Family Foundation was established in 1997 in Houston, Texas, to further the Gill family’s interest in support of educational philanthropy. As a statement of philosophy, the Gill family has noted that “Education plays the critical role in providing opportunities for growth, development, success, lasting relationships and satisfaction in life. We are committed to giving back to the system which provided us so much opportunity for success and financial independence.”

Submit application directly to: Selection Committee, c/o Prof. Ron Elving Dept. of Government, or by email (preferred) to dzٳelving@american.edu and CCPS@american.edu

To apply, applicants must submit the following:

  1. A letter of interest, highlighting thestatistics and methods courses you have taken and your grades in these courses. Your letter of interest should also specifyhowyouwill use the money in support of yourdissertation.
  2. A signed dissertation proposal, outlining research questions, theories, hypotheses and a detailed research design using quantitative methods.
  3. A transcript(s) of your graduate course work, including overall GPA.
  4. A current CV.

Gill Scholarship is open only to PhD students in the School of Public Affairs at American University.

Griffin Scholarship for the Public Affairs & Advocacy Institute

This fund provides up to two $1500 scholarships to students enrolled in the Public Affairs & Advocacy Institute (PAAI).From the pool of qualified applicants, the Donor requests that first preference be given to non-degree seeking candidates from historically underrepresented populations in higher education and candidates who are employed at a non-profit organization. If there are no qualified candidates who meet the first preference, the Donor requests that secondary preference be given to non-degree seeking international students. If there are no candidates who meet either the first or second preferences, the University shall award the Fund to a degree-seeking student(s)enrolled in PAAI, the preference is to support a student working in a non-profit organization. This is a one-time award and not available for renewal.

Contact Laura Uttleyat luttley@american.edu,Director of the Public Affairs and Advocacy Institute, for more information.

Thurber Dialogues on Democracy

The Center for Congressional Presidential Studies is proud to announce, and very grateful to receive, a generous gift from Distinguished University Emeritus Professor Jim Thurber and his wife Claudia Thurber. Their gift will fund the Center’sDialogues on Democracy(now theThurberDialogues on Democracy), an ongoing series of conversations with prominent thought leaders about how to strengthen democracy in the US and abroad. In 2021, their inaugural year, theDialoguesdrew nearly 500 attendees per event, featuring Senator Cory Booker, House Majority Whip James Clyburn, author/journalist Anne Applebaum, and social scientists Robert Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett.

The inauguralThurber Dialogueon Democracyof 2022 was co-hosted by CCPS and KPU and featured Rep.Adam Schifffor a conversation with Professor Jim Thurber onThursday, March 31stat 7:30pm.The secondThurber Dialogue on Democracy was held via Zoom andfeaturedRep. Hakeem Jeffries for a conversation with Professor Liz Suhay onTuesday, April 19that 7:00pm.The third and final Thurber Dialogue of Democracy took placeonThursday, May 5that 6:00pmvia Zoom andfeatured Harvard University political scientists Professor Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, moderated by AU Professor Laura Paler.

Contact CCPS at ccps@american.edu for more information.

$1,500 Stipend Benefactor's Award