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Summer Scholars
June 8 - July 10, 2026

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Summer Scholars

Program Dates: June 8 - July 10, 2026

Applications will be open in through February 27, 2026.

APPLY HERE

 

We will be hosting approximately 10 undergraduate students for five weeks as Summer Scholars. Summer Scholars get an opportunity to "live the life of the mind" as part of an intensive program from which many participants have subsequently gone on to graduate school and careers in academia. Participants will meet each day from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. to work as research assistants with faculty mentors from the Smith Institute.  

The scholars and their mentors will also meet daily as a reading group to discuss papers in experimental economics, as well as works of economics and philosophy like Deirdre McCloskey’s The Bourgeois Virtues, Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments, F.A. Hayek’s The Sensory Order, Michael Polanyi’s Personal Knowledge, and Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations and works of literature like John Milton’s Paradise Lost, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, and Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

Summer Scholars will receive a fellowship of $3,600. A limited number of fellowships also include free lodging. Please indicate in your application if you need lodging to participate.

Students may simultaneously apply to both the Summer Scholars program at Chapman University and the Summer Scholars Writers Retreat in Montana.


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Program Dates

Applications will be accepted through Friday, February 27, 2026.
Applicants will be notified of acceptance decisions in early March 2026.

Program dates: June 8 - July 10, 2026

Participants will meet each day from 9:00am until 5:00pm to work as research assistants with faculty mentors from the Smith Institute.

A sample schedule from last year's program can be downloaded here. 

Funding Package

Successful applicants receive:
  • A $3,600 fellowship (received via check after the conclusion of the program).
  • Limited number of fellowships also include free lodging on campus through the program. Please indicate on your application whether or not you need housing.
  • Personalized faculty mentoring and research experience in economics, philosophy, and literature.
  • Exposure to a diverse and thoughtful cohort of students eager to learn about the links between economics and the humanities.

Eligibility

Special consideration will be given to candidates who have taken at least one course in Humanomics at Chapman.

International students who hold an F1 Student Visa are welcome to apply. Please note that for students who are not US residents for tax purposes, the award may be subject to tax withholding which will reduce the amount of each payment you receive.

Application Requirements

You will be asked to answer the following essay questions in your application. 

  1. Why are you interested in the Summer Scholar program? (500 words or less). 
  2. What most interests you about the study of economics and/or experimental economics, literature, and philosophy? (500 words or less). 
  3. Do you have any particular skills that you think might contribute to your work? (250 words or less).

Workshop Contacts

Faculty Organizer: Erik Kimbrough, ekimbrou@chapman.edu 
Event Coordinator: Molly Holloway, mholloway@chapman.edu

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