Research Support and Endowments

The department is fortunate to have generous support from individuals with deep ties to the department who have established endowments that support research by our students, and recognize our students’ achievements.

Below is a snapshot of how the departmental endowments have been used to supplement more than 60 research projects for our students since 2016. 

Alona Evans graduated from Duke University (B.A. 1940; Ph.D. 1945) before serving in the U.S. Department of State during World War II.  She became the first female president of the American Society of International Law. Evans was a faculty member at Wellesley College from 1945 until her death in 1980. In keeping with Evans’ pioneering career, she generously established the Alona Evans Endowment, which recognizes outstanding student accomplishments in the field of international law.

  • Robert Allred (survey experiment)
  • Hannah Ridge (survey experiment in Morocco and Egypt)
  • Zeren Li (fieldwork in China)
  • Emily Raines (fieldwork in India)
  • Ziwen Zu (fieldwork in China)
  • Margaret Foster (language training)
  • Moohyung Cho (fieldwork in Korea)
  • Brett Gall (data collection)
  • Priscilla Torres (fieldwork training)
  • Anh Le (survey module)
  • Dean Dulay (survey in Vietnam)
  • Guy Ras (gamification methods)
  • Howard Liu (dissertation support; conference travel)
  • Ida Hjermitslev (survey experiments)
  • Jan Vogler (dissertation support)
  • Juan Tellez (LAPOP survey items)
  • Jesse Lopez (LAPOP survey items)
  • Kat Alexander (dissertation support)
  • Katie Webster (dissertation support; conference travel)
  • Marco Morucci (data collection)
  • Ngoc Phan (fieldwork in Vietnam)
  • Noa Cnaan-On (dissertation support)
  • Nura Sediqe (LAPOP survey items)
  • Pawel Charasz (data collection)
  • Peng Peng (archival work in China)
  • Serkant Adiguzel (survey experiment in Turkey)
  • So Jin Lee (data collection)
  • Soomin Oh (data collection)
  • Taylor Vincent (summer program in India)
  • Undes Wen (dissertation support)
  • Victoria Paniagua (data collection)
  • Xiaoshu Gui (survey experiment in China)
  • Zeren Li (data collection in China)

John Hamilton Hallowell received degrees from Harvard University (A.B., 1935), Duke University (M.A., 1937), Princeton University (Ph.D., 1939), and College of Holy Cross (Litt. D., 1963). In 1942, he came to Duke University as an Associate Professor of Political Science. From 1964 to 1971, Hallowell was Chair of the Department of Political Science; he was the James B. Duke Professor of Political Science from 1975-1982. Hallowell received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities to fund summer seminars for students and instructors. At Duke, Hallowell was Director of the Lilly Endowment Research Program in Christianity and Politics (1957-1968), a scholarship-granting organization supporting the study of theology and community service. After 40 years of service to Duke University, Hallowell passed away in 1991.

  • Isak Tranvik (archival work)
  • Alex Oprea (dissertation support)
  • Utku Cansu (conference travel)

Walter Molano earned a Ph.D. from Duke University in 1995 and is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. He is now a Managing Partner, Head of Research and Chief Economist at BCP Securities LLC. Molano performs or directs the macroeconomic, financial and corporate research at the firm, with an emphasis on Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela. He generously endowed the Walter T. Molano Endowment to support innovative graduate student research at Duke.

  • Stefan Martinez-Ruiz (survey experiment)
  • Gabrielle Levy (survey experiment in Colombia)
  • Mateo Villamizar (data collection in Brazil)
  • Diego Romero (data collection in Brazil)
  • Diego Romero (survey in Guatemala)
  • Juan Tellez (data collection in Colombia; LAPOP survey items)
  • Jesse Lopez (LAPOP survey items)
  • Nura Sediqe (LAPOP survey items)
  • Victoria Paniagua (archival work in Argentina & Chile; dissertation support)
  • Undes Wen (dissertation support)

Kevin Morrison completed his Ph.D. in the Department in 2007, and went on to a distinguished career at the University of Pittsburgh. He fought a courageous and difficult battle with cancer. To honor Kevin, the department is proud to have established the Kevin Morrison Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, to be awarded each year to a PhD student in the department on track to complete the degree at the end of the fellowship year.

  • Moohyung Cho (dissertation support)
  • Howard Liu (dissertation support)
  • Moohyung Cho (dissertation support)
  • Wan Ning Seah (dissertation support)
  • Jihyun Jeong (dissertation support)
  • Asli Consunar (dissertation support)
  • Bailey Sanders (dissertation support)
  • Brian Spisiak (dissertation support)
  • Chong Chen (dissertation support)
  • Howard Liu (dissertation support)
  • Gabriel Madson (dissertation support)
  • Marco Morucci (dissertation support)
  • Austin Wang (dissertation support)
  • Undes Wen (dissertation support)

Robert Renbert Wilson served as a professor of political science at Duke University from 1925 to 1975. He also acted as chair of the Dept. of Political Science (1934-1948), Director of Graduate Studies (1937-1947, 1949-1966), lecturer in the Law School (1948-1966), and chair of the Commonwealth Studies Center (1959-1966) at Duke University, and as an adviser on commercial treaties to the U.S. State Department. Wilson chartered political science as a department at Duke on Jun 25, 1934. 

  • Hannah Ridge (survey experiment)
  • Arvind Krishnamurthy (survey experiment)
  • Jasmine Smith (survey experiment)
  • Jesse Lopez (survey experiment)
  • Andy Ballard (dissertation support)
  • Antong Liu (dissertation support)
  • Christopher Kennedy (dissertation support)
  • Dean Dulay (fieldwork in Vietnam)
  • Isak Tranvik (conference travel; dissertation support)
  • Victoria Dounoucos (dissertation support)