Graduate Student Intellectual Diversity Initiative

Academia has an intellectual diversity problem. As is increasingly evident to many on campus, regardless of political persuasion, there are serious intellectual and institutional consequences to having so few voices from the center to the right in higher education.  One such consequence is the phenomenon of “field compression,” in which the range of questions asked, hypotheses considered, and approaches undertaken is unduly constricted.

The Graduate Student Intellectual Diversity Initiative (GSIDI) is a joint project led by Steve Teles (of the Johns Hopkins University SNF Agora Institute) and Jenna Storey (of the American Enterprise Institute) that aims to help broaden intellectual diversity on campus by attending to the pipelines that eventually produce future university faculty.

Our program aims to assist prospective graduate students who are interested in questions, hypotheses or approaches that may be labeled conservative, moderate or heterodox liberal, and who are curious about careers in higher education. GSIDI provides general insight into navigating the academic landscape, and matches select prospective graduate students to professors in highly-ranked PhD-granting institutions who are committed to intellectual diversity and who have agreed to serve as mentors. Those mentors will provide general advice concerning graduate school applications, peer review publications, and the prospects of a career in academia.

We have launched GSIDI with an initial network of individuals who are Political Science scholars. We plan to extend this network in the future so that the program will serve as a model grounded in the unique challenges and opportunities of various disciplines.

If you would like to receive updates about GSIDI news and events, please register here: Sign up for GSIDI news and events
If you are currently applying for graduate school, and would like to be considered for our mentorship program, please fill out this form: Fall 2025 GSIDI Mentorship Application

Initiative Leadership

  • Steven Teles

    Steven Teles is professor of political science at the Johns Hopkins University, and senior fellow at the Niskanen Center. Teles is the co-director of the initiative.

  • Jenna Storey

    Jenna Storey is a visiting fellow at the SNF Agora Institute and senior fellow in the social, cultural, and constitutional studies division of the American Enterprise Institute. Storey is the co-director of the initiative.

  • Jacob Bruggeman

    Bruggeman is currently a Ph.D. candidate in History at Johns Hopkins University and the Ambrose Monell National Fellow in Technology and Democracy at the Jefferson Scholars Foundation. Bruggeman is the executive director of the initiative.

Faculty Network

  • Gerard Alexander

    Gerard Alexander is Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia.

  • Sarah F. Anzia

    Sarah F. Anzia is Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy & Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley.

  • Brandice Canes-Wrone

    Brandice Canes-Wrone is Professor of Political Science & Maurice R. Greenberg Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University

  • Daniel Carpenter

    Daniel Carpenter is the Allie S. Freed Professor of Government, Harvard University.

  • Gregory Conti

    Gregory Conti is Associate Professor of Politics, Princeton University.

  • Patrick Egan

    Patrick Egan is Professor of Politics and Public Policy, NYU Wilf Family Department of Politics; Associated Faculty at NYU Wagner.

  • Christian Fong

    Christian Fong is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan.

  • Sean Gailmard

    Sean Gailmard is the Herman Royer Professor of Political Economy, University of California, Berkeley.

  • Guy Grossman

    Guy Grossman is Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania.

  • Anna Harvey

    Anna Harvey is Professor of Politics at New York University.

  • Joshua Kalla

    Joshua Kalla is Associate Professor of Political Science, Yale University (with secondary appointment in Statistics & Data Science).

  • Frances E. Lee

    Frances E. Lee is Professor of Politics and Public Affairs, jointly appointed in the Department of Politics & School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University.

  • Kenneth Lowande

    Kenneth Lowande is Associate Professor of Political Science & Public Policy, University of Michigan.

  • Alison McQueen

    Alison McQueen is Associate Professor of Political Science at Stanford University.

  • Jonathan Mummolo

    Jonathan Mummolo is Associate Professor of Politics and Public Affairs, Princeton University.

  • Andrew Reeves

    Andrew Reeves is Professor of Political Science, Washington University in St. Louis

  • Jason M. Roberts

    Jason M. Roberts is Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

  • Jacob Shapiro

    Jacob Shapiro is Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University.

  • Dan Slater

    Dan Slater is James Orin Murfin Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan.