Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, Lawrence

The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, often shortened to the Dole Institute, is a nonpartisan political institution located at the University of Kansas and founded by the former U.S. Senator from Kansas and 1996 Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole. Opened on July 22, 2003, Dole's 80th birthday, the institute's $11.3 million, 28,000-square-foot (2,600 m2) facility houses Dole's papers and hosts frequent political events. The institute is officially bi-partisan and has sponsored on-campus programs featuring prominent politicians of both major parties. The institute sponsors the Dole Lecture, which is given in April and features a prominent national figure addressing some aspect of contemporary politics or policy. The institute awards the annual Dole Leadership Prize each September, which includes a $25,000 cash award. The Presidential Lecture Series features the nation's leading presidential scholars, historians, journalists, and others including former Presidents, cabinet officers, and White House staff members who discuss the nation's highest office in ways that combine scholarly rigor with popular access. The archives hosted an exhibit in 2017 entitled "The League of Wives: Vietnam’s POW/MIA Allies & Advocates." In 2017, Elizabeth Dole gifted her career papers to the Dole Institute Archive and Special Collections.
The director of the institute is Audrey Coleman. Director Emeritus is Bill Lacy, who worked as a strategist on both Sen. Dole's 1988 and 1996 presidential campaigns and his 1992 senatorial campaign. Steve McAllister, the former dean of the University of Kansas School of Law, served as interim director from October 2003 to September 2004, prior to the arrival of Lacy. Richard Norton Smith, a presidential historian, was the founding director of the Dole Institute and held the position for two years. Lacy took a temporary leave of absence from the institute to work on the presidential campaign of former Senator Fred Thompson and returned to his role as director in the spring of 2008.