What’s New

- 🎤 Join us for a a special event called, Theranos and Bad Blood: Risking it All to Do the Right Thing, on Monday, September 22 at 4 p.m. in Broyhill Auditorium (Farrell A31). Tyler Shultz will speak about his experiences, leadership lessons he learned, and the role of character and moral courage in doing the right thing—even when it’s hard.
- ☀️ How do you stay spiritually grounded during college? What practices can help you connect with yourself, others, or something greater? Join us and the Office of the Chaplain on Saturday, October 4 for a one-day retreat at the North Carolina Museum of Art to explore and experience spiritual practices that nurture peace, gratitude, and resilience. You can sign up to attend here.
- 📚 If you are still looking to fill out your schedule this semester, here’s a few course offerings being led by instructors associated with the Program for Leadership and Character.
- The Program Is excited to announce that Cristy Guleserian is our new Executive Director in the College.

Our Vision
To inspire, educate, and empower leaders of character at Wake Forest and at colleges and universities across the world.
Our Mission
To use innovative teaching, creative programming, and cutting-edge research to help transform the lives of students, foster an inclusive culture of leadership and character on college campuses, and catalyze a broader public conversation that places character at the center of leadership.
Get Involved
Here’s how you can become directly involved with our Program as a Wake Forest student, or as a faculty or staff member at Wake Forest and other institutions across the country:
Receive regular updates on events and happenings:
“An education that shapes the whole person is both necessary and desired in our world. The Program is vital to our ability to meet this moment and produce leaders for a better future.”
Wake Forest President Susan R. Wente

Who We Are
The Program for Leadership and Character consists of faculty and staff from a diverse group of disciplines and backgrounds who study and assess leadership and character, as well as students who take on the important and challenging work of developing their leadership and character. Our Educating Character Initiative (ECI) is creating a community of educators interested in character on campuses across the country and world.
What We Do
We help faculty at Wake Forest and beyond educate leadership and character in the classroom and across their campuses. We work directly with students through our Scholars and Ambassadors programs, as well as through courses, fellowships, discussion groups, retreats, and special events. We spark public conversations and collaborate with others across the world. And we strive to educate leadership and character in ways that reflect Wake Forest’s motto, Pro Humanitate.


How We Do It
We put character at the center of leadership and ground our Program’s initiatives in seven research-based strategies for developing character. Because character education is not a one-size-fits-all approach, we find value and strength in engaging diverse ideas and partners. And we rigorously assess outcomes to learn what works and how we can improve.