Union has received a $50,000 Capacity-Building Grant from the Educating Character Initiative, a project of The Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University.

The College is among 68 institutions that will be impacted by these grants, which are dedicated to advancing character development in higher education.

The grant will support themes over this academic year surrounding the College’s vision of “developing every student to lead with wisdom, empathy and courage” in a more intentional approach.

The project’s ultimate goal is to improve the character of students at Union, and to ensure that during their time on campus students develop not only good character, but also a habit of reflecting on their character and reaffirming their commitment to good character.

Maité Cruz, assistant professor of philosophy, and Stephen Schmidt, the Kenneth B. Sharpe Professor of Economics, are co-directors of the project. The leadership team includes Niamaya Canady, director of intercultural affairs; Aaron Cass, associate professor of computer science; Jeff Hatley, associate professor of mathematics; Joseph Johnson, director of Writing Programs; Elizabeth O'Connor, lecturer in U.S. politics; and Anastasia Pease, senior lecturer in English.

“Many educators, including educators in higher education, are already engaged in the pursuit of bringing about some transformation in their students,” said Cruz. “Educators hope their students develop not only knowledge of the subjects they teach, but also character traits like curiosity, kindness, honesty, fairness, along with wisdom, empathy, and courage. Character education is an opportunity to reflect on this pursuit, become more intentional about it, discuss it and work on it collectively as an institution.”

Key points of the project include:

• Raising awareness among faculty, students and staff about character education, and to raise support for a character education framework at Union
• Discussions with the community on how to approach character education in the Union context, identify character related programming that is already happening on campus, and obtain ideas on what kinds of programs people would find most rewarding and most fitting for Union
• Motivating faculty, staff and students to participate in character education efforts in future years, which may include, for instance, developing course modules on character (for
  faculty), developing co-curricular programming (for staff), and engaging in curricular and co-curricular programs (for students)

As part of the initiative, the College will launch a new lecture series that kicks off Wednesday, Oct. 14, with Steven Nadler giving a talk on wisdom. Liz Whiting, a scholar of character pedagogy at ECI, will give a talk on character education, Thursday, Oct. 22; Shannon Spaulding will give a talk on empathy, Wednesday, January 13; and Nancy Snow will give a talk on courage, Wednesday, April 7.

A new course, “Theories of the Good Life,” will be taught this fall by Cruz and Schmidt. There will also be a series of focus group discussions in Winter 2027 for students, faculty and staff on what character education might look like at Union.

While the grant is only for one year, Cruz and Schmidt hope to continue it beyond by applying for additional grants.

Since its founding in 2023, the Educating Character Initiative has awarded more than $58 million in grants to more than 200 colleges and universities that have committed to educating character on their campuses.