The Arlen Specter Center offers competitive research fellowships to aid scholars in the pursuit of study and research in an area supported by the Arlen Specter Collection.
These fellowships highlight and raise awareness of the significant impact the late senator’s work had on American politics, criminal justice, healthcare policy and culture, thereby advancing the profile of the Center and University.
In addition to publishing their research, the fellows present their work at the Specter Center’s Roxboro House Roundtables and Knowledge Exchanges on the East Falls campus to bolster intellectual discourse and further advance the senator’s legacy.
Arlen Specter Center Post-Graduate Research Fellowship
Funding for the post-graduate fellowships is provided by Shanin Specter, prominent Philadelphia trial attorney and son of Arlen Specter, and his wife, Tracey Specter.
2021-2022 Fellows
2019-2020 Fellow
2018 Fellows
Arlen Specter Center Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) papers were the result of summer fellowships awarded by the Center to undergraduates, who performed research and then documented and presented their results under the guidance of a Thomas Jefferson University- East Falls faculty member.
2021-2022 Fellow
2019 Fellow
2018 Fellow
Submissions from 2023
Crafting U.S. Foreign Policy Towards China Through Congress: An Examination of Arlen Specter & Congressional Delegations to China, Gabriel C. Kelly
Arlen Specter: How a Jewish Boy from Kansas Became a Mediator for Middle East Peace, Georgia G. Skuza
Submissions from 2022
Antitrust Legislative Action Against Big Tech: Lessons from Arlen Specter’s Antitrust Campaign Against American Sports Leagues, Raju Parakkal
Submissions from 2021
Specter of Reform: Understanding the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 and its Role in Expanding the Modern Prison Industrial Complex, Timothy Nii-Okai Welbeck
Submissions from 2019
Safe Streets, Inc. : The 'Hustle' to End Black Gang Violence in Philadelphia, 1969-1976, Menika Dirkson
Efficacy of Clery Act Timely Warning and Emergency Notification Messages, Travis W. Douglas
Appropriations and Stem Cell Research Arlen Specter’s Senate Legacy, Sean Q. Kelly
“A Matter of Great Importance”: Interest Groups, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings, Elizabeth A. Lane and Jessica A. Schoenherr
The Debate Over the Efficacy of Federal Hate Crime Legislation: A Look at Arlen Specter’s Senatorial Efforts and its Legacy, Sierra Reddi
Submissions from 2018
Reshaping a Fractured System: Arlen Specter’s Footprint on the Criminal Justice System in the U.S., Kaitlyn Brown
