Eisenhower Institute Opens Program Applications for Spring, Summer 2025
The Eisenhower Institute building on N. Washington Street. (William Oehler/The Gettysburgian)
By Vincent DiFonzo, Editor-in-Chief
Applications opened yesterday for spring and summer Eisenhower Institute programs, which allow students to “participate in small group conversations with experts and peers, apply and share knowledge through project-based work and engage in travel and experiential learning,” according to a press release sent to The Gettysburgian.
Programs are open to interested students of all majors at no cost. Applicants must attend an EI orientation session. Students are encouraged to contact ei@gettysburg.edu with any questions. Prospective applicants can also visit EI during their office hours, which will be held between Tuesday, Nov. 11 and Friday, Nov. 22 between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., with the exception of Wednesday, Nov. 20. EI is located at 157 N. Washington Street.
EI also noted that they are now hiring three new student employees — two “communications assistants” and a producer for EI’s student-made podcast. Students are encouraged to apply on Handshake.
Applications should be submitted by Sunday, Nov. 24. The programs are detailed below:
Gender and Leadership
EI is running a study trip to Washington, D.C. focused on exploring “how men and women lead differently, and how we can learn from each other.” The trip will run during the last week of winter break, Jan. 13-17.
“Students will participate in small group, interactive sessions with practitioners who discuss their career paths and how gender impacts decision-making and leadership in their professional environments,” reads the EI website. .
Inside Washington
This full semester program “provides participants with a deeper understanding of how politics and policy shape initiatives in the nation’s capital” through in-person sessions at the EI Washington D.C. office, located at 818 Connecticut Ave NW, as well as trips around the nation’s capital.
“This semester’s program will specifically focus on the aftermath of the 2024 Presidential and Congressional elections, and the new administration. This immersive experience will allow students to explore the critical significance of the first 100 days in office,” the EI website reads.
The program will involve biweekly sessions in D.C. (transportation is provided) held on Friday afternoons, as well as a spring break trip. Additionally, students will have networking opportunities and a project “that will provide each student the opportunity to develop an understanding of the legislative process.”
This program is run by alumni Ryan Woodward ’12, who works as the Chief of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs at the National Volunteer Fire Council, and Tony McComiskey ’14, director of scheduling for Arizona Senator Mark Kelly.
Emerging Threats in National Security
This full-semester seminar “provides students with a deeper understanding of national security policy in general, while considering the impact of new and non-conventional threats.”
The interdisciplinary seminar dives into selected topics, “focusing on a small number of salient or emerging national security issues of the greatest importance, urgency and difficulty,” with an emphasis on “highly interactive” small-group discussion and debate.
In addition to scheduled sessions on campus, the seminar includes a trip to D.C. for two days during spring break.
Alumnus Annie Morgan ’06 leads this program. She is an adjunct political science professor and Department of Defense attorney. Notably she has been “involved in worldwide investigation of torture and human rights violations” and has worked as a defense counsel for detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
Regions Matter: Closing Regional Economic Divides – Strengthening Democracy
This new semester-long program tackles the gap in economic opportunity between “rural and industrial heartlands and today’s global city-regions.”
Two key questions will be addressed in this seminar: “why regional economies evolve differently, and what this means for our politics” and “what the US, Germany and other European nations have done, and are doing today, to bring growth and opportunity to regions navigating an economic transition.”
Additionally, students will “engage with and help gauge the effectiveness of today’s geographic-place focused efforts at economic regenerations, and draw lessons for the future health of our economies and democracies.”
In addition to regular sessions on campus, the seminar includes a trip to D.C. to “meet with Scholars leading regional/place-based economic policy.” This will include scholars from the Brookings Institute, Progressive Policy Institute, Georgetown University BMW Center for German and European Affairs, American Enterprise Institute and Roosevelt Institute.
At the end of the program, students will present a “capstone” presentation culminating their work in DC. Presentations will be in front of “an audience of DC stakeholders,” according to the EI website.
The program is led by EI senior fellow John Austin and economist Raphael L’Hoest, who works for the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Change in Berlin.
Media and Elections
This new semester-long program will dive into the role of the media in politics, focusing on the 2024 election.
Students “will reconstruct and analyze political persuasive strategies of the 2024 United States election, examining how these strategies are reported and amplified in American news media.”
A key part of the program will be comparing German and American media.
“[Students] will also compare this coverage with how similar events and strategies are portrayed in Germany. The program will be enriched by discussions with media professionals from both German and American news outlets, as well as faculty from Gettysburg College and other international institutions,” the EI website reads.
Participants will also use what they learn to “develop policy recommendations to strengthen fact-checking mechanisms and promote responsible political information gathering beyond partisan echo chambers.”
Washington Summer Fellowship
This fellowship invites students to complete a 10-week summer internship in D.C. and participate in weekly seminars involving alumni based in the city while living in housing provided for free.
To help accepted students find internships, EI “will use our network of professional and alumni connections to assist accepted fellows with identifying opportunities based on career interests.” Their website notes that students are ultimately responsible for finding their internship, as well as submitting internship applications. Accepted students must send EI confirmation of acceptance to an internship by April 26.
In the fellowship’s weekly seminars, students “discuss major policy areas such as the economy, foreign policy, defense, trade, labor, national security, technology, crime, health care, civil rights, education and racial and social issues. Seminars also address key Eisenhower principles of leadership and service.”
The fellowship also involves a number of Saturday field visits throughout D.C.
Eisenhower Leadership Conference
This single-day conference, held on Saturday, Feb. 8., gives students the opportunity for
“professional development opportunity for students to learn leadership lessons from the life and career of one of the world’s greatest military and political leaders, President Dwight D. Eisenhower.”
EI founder Susan Eisenhower and Jim Sweeney ’80 will be speaking. Eisenhower will “[share] insights from her book ‘How Ike Led: The Principles Behind Eisenhower’s Biggest Decisions.’”
Sweeney, the conference’s keynote speaker, is an Army veteran, former salesperson and healthcare business executive. The EI website notes that Sweeney “quickly ascended from recruit to battalion then company commander, overseeing 270 soldiers and the construction of a new airfield – a skill for which he had not been trained.”
New to the conference this year, “the conference culminates a two-day Executive-in-Residence program.” During this, there will be an “interactive workshop” involving decision-making during major historical events. This will be a “hands-on, in-depth examination of decisions such as the D-Day invasion, seeking the presidency, the Cold War, confronting McCarthyism, and advancing civil rights.” There will also be study groups, individual coaching sessions and an “intriguing case study exercise.”
The author of this article is an Eisenhower Institute student employee.
