The Educating Character Initiative (ECI), a part of the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University, has awarded 40 grants of up to $50,000, impacting 42 institutions nationwide seeking to educate and embed character in their distinctive contexts of higher education. 

“We were overwhelmed by the quality of the proposals we received this year,” said Jennifer Rothschild, Director of the Educating Character Initiative. 

“It is exciting to see so many institutions developing character projects rooted in their own identities and missions. We have so much to learn from these projects.”

Jennifer Rothschild

The mission of the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University is to inspire, educate and empower leaders of character to serve humanity. Through innovative teaching, creative programming and cutting-edge research, the program aims to transform the lives of students, foster an inclusive culture of leadership and character, and catalyze a broader public conversation that places character at the center of leadership. 

In recent years, many colleges and universities have reached out to solicit advice and share ideas about how to educate character. Inspired by the University’s motto of Pro Humanitate (for humanity) and supported through a generous grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., Wake Forest developed the Educating Character Initiative to support a wider community of individuals and institutions to educate character within higher education. Through the creation of a network of interested institutions and educators, the development and dissemination of research and resources, the organization of conferences and convenings, and the direct awarding of grants to individuals and institutions interested in advancing this work, the Program for Leadership and Character aspires to nurture a creative, compassionate and collaborative community of educators who can learn from each other as partners in character education. This is the second year that the ECI has awarded grants.

The list of institutions receiving 2025 awards and the names of projects are included below:

Bard College
Character in Context at Bard College

Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon Character Development Initiative

Carthage College
Virtue, Vocation, Reflection: Creating an integrated curriculum for the development of character at Carthage College.

Claflin University
The Village: Reviving the Legacy of a Visionary Leadership Institute

Cornell University
Reshaping Higher Education’s Strategy for Community Engagement: Undergraduate Collective Impact Assessment

Duke University and North Carolina Central University
Capacity Building for Bridge Internship Program

Emory University
Emory Center for Ethics – Character Education through Courage and Discernment

Florida Atlantic University
Wise Owls: Building Character Education for FAU’s Future Environmental Leaders, and Educators

Florida Institute of Technology
Building Core Character: Developing Intellectual Character Virtues through the General Education Core

Friends University
Becoming Friends: Forming Character in Communities of Practice

Furman University
What Really Matters?

Georgetown College
Cultivating Virtues of Love, Justice, and Responsibility: Exploring Character Education at Georgetown College

Gordon College
Intergroup Dialogue Program for Character Formation at Gordon College

Indiana University, Indianapolis
Global Ethics, Civic Character, and Leadership

Loyola University Chicago
Undergraduate Jesuit Character Education at Loyola University Chicago

Mercer University
Pathways to Virtue: Building Institutional Capacity for Character Education

Mount Mary University
Trust & Dare: Building Capacity Through a Character Commonplace Curriculum

New Jersey Institute of Technology
Educating the Whole Engineer: Incorporating Virtues as Learning Outcomes in Fundamentals of Engineering Design Courses

North Central College
Developing Disruptors: Fostering Curiosity, Compassion, and Courage to Dismantle Injustice

Ohio University
“Life Is Abundant”: Character Education in Appalachian Ohio

Olin College of Engineering
Connecting Civic Virtue and Undergraduate Engineering

Roanoke College
How Character and Leadership Intersect with Purpose Discernment and Intellectual Inquiry

Saint Catherine University
Leading for Social Justice: Creating a Collaborative Curriculum to Foster Love of Dear Neighbor

Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota
Expanding Undergraduate Access and Recognizing Character

Southern Methodist University
From Nodes to Networks: Defining, Unifying, and Promoting Character Education at SMU

Southern Wesleyan University
From Knowledge to Wisdom and Character:Building a Transformative Core Curriculum in the Christian Liberal Arts Tradition

State University of New York
State University of New York (SUNY) Empire State Service Corps

Taylor University
Exploring Community-Driven Character Development in the Taylor University Honors Guild

Tulane University
“Non sibi, sed suis” (Not for oneself but for one’s own): Re-envisioning Tulane’s Credo by Centering Civic Leadership

University of Alabama
Using Character Education to Encourage Sentinel Behavior Among Business Students

University of Dayton and Sinclair Community College
Building a Common Language of Character Across a Public Community College and a Private 4-Year University

University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign
The Illinois Way: Cultivating Civic Character and Purpose Through Service Learning

University of Memphis
Ascend University of Memphis

University of North Carolina at Pembroke
Resilient Leaders – Character Education Through Leadership Development, Community Engagement, and Experiential Learning

University of Portland
Educating Character by Engaging the Sainte-Croix Mission Reflection Model at the University of Portland

University of South Carolina, Columbia
Building Bridges of Character: A Perspective Honoring Approach to Ethical Leadership

University of the South
Coalescing Around a Common Language for Character Formation

Westmont College
Westmont’s Initium Program: A New First-Year Seminar Integrating Intellectual, Moral, and Spiritual Formation

Wright State University
Developing Character Champions on Campus

Lists of previous ECI grant recipients are available here.