Additional Information about WHIP

 

WHIP Students

Recent WHIP students have interned with Vice President Dick Cheney’s office; members of Congress including Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS), James Inhofe (R-OK), Richard Lugar (R-IN), and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Congressmen Lee Terry (R-NE 2), Tim Walberg (R-MI 7), and Steve King (R-IA 5).  Think tanks recently employing Hillsdale interns include the Heritage Foundation, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and FreedomWorks.  Recent Hillsdale students also have interned for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. 

WHIP Alumni

More than 325 Hillsdale College students have participated in WHIP since its inception in the early 1970s.  Having served internships in offices including those of Senators Dan Quayle and Phil Gramm, Congressmen Phil Crane, Henry Hyde, Dick Armey, and Dana Rohrabacher, WHIP students also have interned at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (under Jack Kemp), and with the Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, Family Research Council, and the National Rifle Association.  Many WHIP alumni continue to live and work in the Washington area.

Program Personnel

  • David J. Bobb, Ph.D., Director, Kirby Center; Lecturer in Political Science
  • Mickey Craig, Ph.D., Director of the Washington-Hillsdale Internship Program, William and Berniece Grewcock Professor of Politics, Associate Professor of  Political Science
  • Todd Lowery, Worsham Adjunct Fellow, Kirby Center; Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations, Low-Intensity Conflict, and Interdependent Capabilities within the Office of the Secretary of Defense
  • Jeffrey Brewer, Research Associate, Kirby Center

Fall and Spring Semester Coursework

Students enroll in two, three-credit-hour classes. Political Science 402, “Public Policy,” taught by Kirby Center director David J. Bobb, explores foundational thinking from early American and 19th century policymakers as contrasted to three major case studies of current public policy debates. Political Science 320, “American National Security Studies,” taught by Kirby Center Worsham Adjunct Fellow Todd Lowery, introduces students to the study of war, strategy, and national security policy with readings in classics and contemporary texts. Special speakers are featured in both classes.

Fall and Spring Semester Co-Curricular Program

Over the course of each semester WHIP students participate in Kirby Center programs by assisting with the “First Principles on First Fridays” monthly lecture series. Fall semester students attend the annual Hillsdale College Churchill Dinner. In addition, students may attend Supreme Court oral arguments; enjoy a special meeting with a justice of the Supreme Court; participate in a day-long “staff ride” of Gettysburg Battlefield; and also take in Washington, D.C., area sites and places including Charlottesville (Montpelier and Monticello), the historic home of Frederick Douglass, and Abraham Lincoln’s summer cottage. The Hillsdale College Alumni Chapter of Greater Washington, D.C., sponsors several mentoring and social events and programs for WHIP students.

Fall and Spring Semester Housing

Students reside on Capitol Hill in the Johnson Dormitory of the Heritage Foundation, a 60-bed residence located across the street from Hillsdale’s Kirby Center building at 227 Massachusetts Avenue N.E., which is slated to open September 2010.

Program Costs

WHIP students in the fall and spring semesters pay Hillsdale College tuition for full-time enrollment and remain eligible for scholarships and grant aid. Each student accepted into WHIP is eligible for additional scholarship assistance to help defray room and board expenses. Summer WHIP students who enroll in one or both courses pay tuition at regular summer credit hour rate. They do not receive scholarship assistance and must find housing on their own (WHIP personnel and alumni will assist with housing search).