Dr. Christina Bambrick On Her Academic Journey
”IHS has a knack for identifying what academics in all stages need to be successful,” Dr. Christina Bambrick said.
From receiving her Doctorate in government at the University of Texas, to becoming an assistant professor in Political Science at Clemson, followed by Notre Dame University; as well as being published in top academic journals throughout, Dr. Christina Bambrick sits in the unique position of being well-established and upcoming in her academic field. Throughout these stages in her academic journey, Dr. Bambrick found a network of support and collaboration through her partnership with the Institute for Humane Studies.
“IHS has been one of the most reliable sources of support throughout my graduate years. I cannot overstate how helpful IHS’s programs have been in getting me to this point.”
-Dr. Christina Bambrick
During her graduate years, Dr. Bambrick was involved in the IHS mentoring program and was the mentee of Sarah Burns, a fellow at the Quincy Institute and an Associate Professor of Political Science at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).
“Very often, I felt that I was a couple of steps ahead of my colleagues on topics related to professionalization, and that is entirely because of [Sarah’s] consistent and generous mentorship,” Dr. Bambrick said of the experience. “She and the entire IHS staff are doing a real service to grad students.”
That foundation of community and support is crucial to an academic at every stage. Along with the graduate mentorship program, IHS provided Dr. Bambrick with a variety of grants throughout her academic career.
In 2021, her first year as a professor at Notre Dame, Dr. Bambrick was awarded the IHS graduate sabbatical grant. As a recipient of the grant, she was able to dedicate more time to her research and work on the manuscript for her forthcoming book Republican Constitutionalism and the Private Sphere: A Theory of Horizontal Application in Comparative Context.
The sabbatical grant also permitted her the flexibility to complete several interviews with jurists and legal experts and support her research, which centers around constitutional theory and development, American and comparative constitutionalism, and the history of political thought.
Dr. Bambrick’s research is important to the advancement of classical liberal ideas by examining critical conversations about the effect that public goals and constitutional commitments have on private entities and individuals in global contexts.
As her career in academia continues, Dr. Bambrick plans to maintain her partnership with IHS in pursuit of creating a continued, substantial, and pragmatic impact in her field.
The Institute for Humane Studies is committed to supporting and investing in scholars like Dr. Bambrick throughout every stage of their academic journey. Find out how you can help the IHS support scholars like Dr. Bambrick in their life-long commitment to academia here. For more information on our scholars, programs, and academic funding opportunities, visit TheIHS.org
