About Our Fellows
Hoover scholars create breakthrough ideas aligned with our mission and ideals. What sets Hoover apart from all other policy organizations is its status as a center of scholarly excellence, its locus as a forum of scholarly discussion, and its ability to bring the conclusions of this scholarship to a public audience. Hoover’s hallmark has been and remains its uncompromising, independent policy scholarship, distinguished by its empirical and intellectual rigor and grounded in history, data, and logic.
Who Are Fellows?
Hoover has an exceptional cohort of scholars. Some of our fellows are esteemed generalists, capable of addressing broad policy applications, while others are world-renowned experts in specific areas of public policy and historians with a keen eye for anticipating trends underlying rapidly changing global events. A data-driven research approach to scholarship is the common denominator among this highly distinguished community of fellows, who actively advance public policy interests to promote free markets, limited government, and individual freedom.
Significance & Impact
Hoover fellows’ cutting-edge scholarship is widely accessible to policy makers, business and nongovernmental leaders, and members of the attentive general public via academic papers and various forms of educational multimedia content. Fellows pen columns and essays for the nation’s top publications, provide their expertise before congressional committees and national news services, and have historically advised state governors, American presidents, and other heads of government worldwide.
John Taylor at The Human Prosperity Project Panel Discussion
Jacquelyn Schneider speaking at the Hoover Veterans Fellow Program
Ayaan Hirsi Ali speaks at the Hoover Institution Fall Retreat
Eric Hanushek and Macke Raymond discuss Education at the Hoover Institution
Glenn Loury speaks at the Hoover Institution Summer Policy Boot Camp
General Jim Mattis, the Davies Family Distinguished Fellow, speaks at the Hoover Institution
Condoleezza Rice speaks at the Hoover Institution Fall Retreat
Categories of Fellowship
The Hoover Institution’s exceptional fellows are designated in six categories. Senior fellows form the core of the Institution’s research activities and are an indispensable asset, possessing a combination of academic excellence and policy influence. Many senior fellows hold joint appointments at Stanford University. Other categories of resident scholars include research fellows, visiting fellows, and Hoover Fellows, a cohort of recent doctoral recipients who each have the opportunity to establish a long-term career path at the Institution.
Each academic year, a distinguished group of eight high-ranking officers representing the US military branches and the US Foreign Service are selected to become national security affairs fellows, a program made possible by the generous support of Robert and Marion Oster. W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellows are also selected on an annual basis. The diverse group of scholars represent a wide breadth of disciplines from prominent centers of academia and public policy across the nation.
Senior Fellows
Senior fellows represent the highest academic rank at Hoover and are among the most distinguished scholars in their field. Senior fellows carry out advanced research on topics of both immediate and lasting concern and publish their results in scholarly journals, books, and other media.
Research Fellows
Research fellows are appointed to work under the direction and supervision of senior fellows in support of research. Research fellows are also frequently appointed to work on projects that serve Hoover’s institutional goals.
Visiting Fellows
Hoover’s core of scholarly talent is supplemented by visiting fellows. Visiting fellows are generally employed at universities and policy institutes in the United States or abroad but may also be public policy practitioners, government officials, or foreign dignitaries. Visiting fellows collaborate on research projects with senior fellows, participate in institutional initiatives, conduct independent research, present lectures, support conferences, and participate in other activities.
Hoover Fellows
Hoover Fellows are doctoral recipients in the early stages of their academic profession who each have a unique opportunity to develop a career path at Hoover, conduct innovative research, and contribute to the intellectual life of the Institution and the greater Stanford community.
National Security Affairs Fellows
The National Security Affairs Fellowship program offers representatives of the US Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, and Department of State the opportunity to conduct independent research on topics relevant to their respective affiliations and to the practice of diplomacy. Admission to the program is based on direct nominations from each government or military branch.
National Policy Fellows
The W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellows Program was established in 1971 to provide outstanding scholars in a range of disciplines and fields the opportunity to spend an academic year at the Hoover Institution, where they are freed from their professional responsibilities and can undertake unrestricted, rigorous, and creative research.
Our Fellows Are Featured In
On a daily basis, essays and commentary by Hoover Institution fellows are featured in several of the nation’s top journals, newspapers, and network news channels including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Guardian, Lawfare, National Review, University of Chicago Booth School of Business Review, Project Syndicate, Foreign Affairs, Fox News, MSNBC, and many others.
Explore All Fellows
Read biographies of Hoover fellows, learn more about their careers, and access their latest research and analysis.
