About the Program

The Penn Program on Democracy, Citizenship, and Constitutionalism (the DCC Program) has been established with the aid of a $2.5 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to the School of Arts and Sciences. Both the University and SAS have designated "democracy and constitutionalism" as a central theme for Penn research and teaching. Because most people experience "constitutionalism and democracy" chiefly through the forms of citizenship that constitutional democracies create, SAS Dean Rebecca Bushnell authorized the DCC Program as a key element in promoting scholarship at all levels on these topics.

The DCC Program consists of four main components:

• The monthly DCC Faculty Workshop and Spring Conference brings leading scholars from around the world topresent papers on aspects of an annual theme chosen by Penn faculty. The 2007-2008 theme is "Citizenship, Borders, and Human Needs."
• The DCC Postdoctoral Fellowship is awarded each year to a scholar in any discipline who has received a doctorate within the last five years and is doing research pertinent to the annual theme of the fellowship year. DCC Postdoctoral Fellows teach one Freshman Seminar in the School of Arts and Sciences and assist in program administration.
• Three DCC Graduate Fellowships are awarded each year to post-prospectus Penn graduate students whose research is pertinent to the themes of democracy, citizenship, and constitutionalism. The DCC Graduate Fellows organize a DCC Graduate Workshop in which graduate students at Penn and surrounding institutions can present their research.
• Ten DCC Undergraduate Research Grants are awarded each spring to undergraduates who will over the following summer and academic year undertake substantial research projects related to the themes of democracy, citizenship, and constitutionalism. The DCC Undergraduate Research Grant recipients participate in a monthly DCC Undergraduate Research Seminar and present their work publicly at the end of the academic year.

In conjunction with the DCC Program, the University of Pennsylvania Press has also established the Penn Press Series on Democracy, Citizenship, and Constitutionalism. Professor Rogers M. Smith, Chair of the Executive Committee of the DCC Program, is Series Editor. The Penn Press Series will publish edited volumes drawn from papers presented in the DCC Program each year as well as other scholarly works pertinent to the Series themes.

The Penn Program on Democracy, Citizenship, and Constitutionalism is administered by an interdisciplinary Faculty Executive Committee which oversees all four of the DCC Program's main components. It also appoints a Faculty Planning Committee for each year's Faculty Workshops and Spring Conference.