Background:

 One of the Center’s cornerstone programs is the Fellows program.  The Fellows program is a unique and multidisciplinary effort that brings together academics and military professionals to study a specific topic in the field of military ethics and leadership.  The Fellows meet together for a weekly seminar, host guest speakers, conduct independent and joint research, travel to meet with other experts in the field, publish their findings in journals and books, produce instructional materials for the Academy curriculum, and make presentations at the Academy and other national and international forums.

 Each year, the Center advertises widely for civilian candidates interested in the Fellows Program.  The Distinguished Chair in Ethics and the Center’s Director of Research review all submitted applications, conduct phone interviews, check references and narrow the field to six to eight finalists.  A committee composed of the Center Director, Deputy Center Director, Distinguished Chair in Ethics, Distinguished Chair of Leadership and Center’s Director of Research choose two Resident Fellows and two Non-Resident Fellows from these finalists to serve in the upcoming academic year.  The Fellows program is funded through the generosity of the Naval Academy Classes of 1958 and 1962 and SAIC. This Center program has been in existence since Academic Year 2000-2001. 

 Impact on the Naval Academy and Other Institutions:

 Research accomplished by the Fellows makes a significant impact on education at the Naval Academy and policy making within our national government. 

 Fellows interact with midshipmen in the classroom, both as adjunct instructors and seminar leaders, and provide professional development opportunities for instructors and professors in the Department of Leadership, Ethics, and Law (LEL).  As Fellows tackle emerging issues in military ethics and leadership, they are able to develop case studies and other instructional materials to support the core and elective courses offered by LEL and take on a mentoring role for midshipmen interested in the topics pursued by the Fellows cohort.

 The Fellows research is also designed to inform the highest levels of naval service leadership about emerging ethics and leadership challenges for the foreseeable future.  At the conclusion of the research effort, the Center hosts the McCain Conference where the Fellows are joined by military and civilian educators from the nation’s service academies and war colleges and other thought leaders to discuss and debate the research conducted at the Naval Academy. Policy issues and recommendations emerging from the McCain conference are shared with the Secretary of the Navy, Chief of Naval Operations and the Commandant of the Marine Corps.

Additionally, because of the participation of the Fellows in high visibility conferences and meetings and the publications they produce, their work enhances the influence and prestige of the Stockdale Center and the Naval Academy worldwide.

 Academic Year 2012-13 Research Effort

 This year’s research and McCain Conference will examine great power decline—with emphases on assessing US prospects, identifying causes of decline (including cultural/ethical), and recommending appropriate courses of action to military and political leaders.

 In addition to this year's fellow the following individuals are participating in this year’s work:

-          Dr. Ed Barrett, Co-Facilitator, Director of Strategy and Research, Stockdale Center, U.S. Naval Academy

-          Dr. George Lucas, Co-Facilitator, Distinguished Chair in Ethics, Stockdale Center, U.S. Naval Academy

-          Dr. Michael Skerker, Seminar Participant, U.S. Naval Academy

-          MAJ Jeff McCarthy, USMC, Assistant Director, Stockdale Center

 If you are interested in applying for this opportunity during the 2013-2014 academic year, please apply here.

 Current Fellows: 
 Funded by USNA Classes of 1958, 1962 and 1967

September 2012 - May 2013

• Dr. Scott Davis :  Dr. Davis was born in Texas and grew up on the Stanford campus. He received an A.B. summa cum laude from Bowdoin College, followed by a Ph.D. from Princeton University. Davis taught at Columbia University, the University of Southern California, and Princeton University before being appointed the Lewis T. Booker Professor of Religion and Ethics at the University of Richmond. He is the author of Warcraft and the Fragility of Virtue (Idaho, 1992; Wipf & Stock, 2011), Religion and Justice in the War over Bosnia (Routledge, 1996), and Believing and Acting (Oxford, 2012).
• Dr. Chris Hill : Dr. Hill earned his Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin in 2008 and has advanced degrees in both medieval and modern European history. He has taught at the University of Texas and Hamilton College, where he received the Sidney Wertimer Award for excellence in teaching in 2010. A legal historian by training, he is particularly interested in the relationship between religion and law during the high Middle Ages and the impact that relationship had on the idea of individual liberty in the developing English common law. An ardent critic of political orthodoxy in academe, he wrote while a graduate student a novel satirizing political correctness on a fictional college campus. The book, Virtual Morality, won the Editors’ Book Award from Pushcart Press in the year 2000. His reviews have appeared in the Wall Street Journal. He is currently researching the history of the concept of liberty as a Bakwin Fellow at the AHI. He and his wife, Stephanie, live with their three children in Waterville, NY.
• Dr. Alek Chance : Dr. Chance was born and raised in Moscow, Idaho, and completed a BA from St. John’s College and a PhD in political theory from Boston College. He has taught international relations and political theory at Boston College and Loyola University Maryland, and is currently working on a book on power and ethics in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War.Has taught international relations and political theory at Boston College and Loyola University Maryland, and is currently working on a book on power and ethics in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War.