Partners
The Dirksen Congressional Center provides financial support to other organizations which, through their programs, promote research and scholarship about the U.S. Congress. Current partners include the Association of Centers for the Study of Congress, the Congressional Papers Section of the Society of American Archivists, the Institute for Principled Leadership at Bradley University, the Legislative Studies Section of the American Political Science Association, and the University Press of Kansas.
Association of Centers for the Study of Congress. Annual Meeting Session Grant.
The Center will award ACSC $1,000 per year for three years to host a “book talk” session at the annual meeting featuring authors of recent books about Congress.
2019 Publications Roundtable: Robert H. Michel: Leading the Republican House Minority
Association of Centers for the Study of Congress. Grants for Research in Congressional Collections.
The Center will award ACSC $3,000 per year for three years to underwrite ACSC’s “Grants for Research in Congressional Collections.”
2018
Cari Babitzke, Ph.D. candidate in history, Boston University. “Man, Machine, Myth: The Politics of Gun Control in the Twentieth Century U.S.”
Heather Walser, Ph.D. candidate in history, University of Oklahoma. Research assistant for a class, Congress: Politics, Policy and the Constitution.
Scott Weightman, Ph.D. Candidate in history and American Studies, University of Leicester and Nottingham Trent University. “The Outward Face of Massive Resistance: Segregationists’ Media Strategies in the 1950s and 1960s.”
Andrew Hammond, Aston University (United Kingdom). This study analyses US-Afghan relations since 1979, comparing and contrasting narratives of “freedom” during the Soviet-Afghan War and the Global War on Terror.
Congressional Papers Section, Society of American Archivists. Publications Series.
The Center will award CPS $1,000 per year for three years to print publications or guides that will cover topics congressional archivists encounter regularly, e.g., working with congressional staffers, the difference between personal office records and committee records (and what we do when we find them), state office records, etc.
2018 CPS Advocacy Day: A Guide to Advocating for the Preservation of Congressional Papers
Institute for Principled Leadership in Public Service, Bradley University. The LaHood Scholarships.
The Center and IPL jointly administer the Ray and Kathy LaHood Scholarships for the Study of American Government. The Center provides the entire funding for the program at $5,000 per year.
2004 Sarah Anne Cottingham, Millikin University, andJanet M. Greenwalt, Eureka College
2005 Beau Thomas Underwood, Eureka College
Beginning in 2007, the scholarships were restricted to students at Bradley University
2007 Amber Huett and Julie Mierzwa
2008 Emily Gesing and Courtney Lynne Wiersema
2009 Kathyrn Green and Amy Sickinger
2010 Thomas Carroll and James Pripusich
2011 Katie Childs and Michael Kittleson
2012 Megan Ramlo
2013 Victoria Berkow and Abby Schierer
2014 Taylor Soto and Chase Owen
2015 No Awards
2016 Rebekah Guderman, Patrick Campbell, and Shannon Schooley
2017 Gerald Regep III, Robert Miller, and Patrick DePinto
2018 Mary Anne “Annie” Carroll, Jacob T. Halstead, and Thomas Bowers
2019 Lorena Chica, Veronica Blascoe, Dan Kaminski, and Devin Servin
Institute for Principled Leadership in Public Service, Bradley University. Public Program Series.
IPL conducts one public program per year co-sponsored with The Center. Funding is derived from The Center’s investment in establishing IPL.
2007 November 4 “Health Care for ALL Americans—Building a Bipartisan Coalition for Real Change”
2008 March 7 “Protecting the Illinois River: A Time for ACTION!”
2008 October 28 “Midwest Energy Solutions”
2010 April 21 “Transforming Public Education”
2010 November 10 “The Future of Midwest Transportation”
2011 November 3 “The Future of Midwest Agriculture and Environmental Sustainability”
2013 April 16 “Returning Civility to Public Discourse”
2014 April 11 “Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Historic Civil Rights Act of 1964”
2017 November 10 “Restoring America’s Democracy: Inspiring a New Generation of Civic Engagement”
2019 February 21 “A Conversation with David Axelrod”
2019 October 7 "Robert H. Michel: Leading the Republican House Minority." Book panel filmed by C-SPAN
2019 October 9 “Bipartisan Criminal Justice Reform at the Federal Level”
Legislative Studies Section, American Political Science Association. Emerging Scholar Award.
LSS awards several prizes to encourage congressional scholarship. The Center will underwrite the section’s new “Emerging Scholar Award” at $1,000 per year for three years.
2018 Tiffany Barnes, University of Kentucky
2018 Justin Kirkland, University of Virginia
2019 Molly E. Reynolds, Brookings
University Press of Kansas. Congressional Leaders Series.
The Center will award UPK $5,000 per book as a subvention for publications in UPK’s new Congressional Leaders Series.
2019 Frank H. Mackaman and Sean Q Kelly, eds., Robert H. Michel: Leading the Republican House Minority (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2019)