What’s New
⚖️ Thanks to everyone who attended our inaugural Leadership and Character in the Law Conference last week. Here’s a video and recap of the keynote address from North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson.
- 📚 If you are still looking to fill out your schedule for next semester, here’s a few course offerings being led by instructors associated with the Program for Leadership and Character.
- ✏️ The Program for Leadership and Character is pleased to announce the opening of four opportunities for financial support, available to WFU faculty and staff each spring. The deadline to apply (except for co-sponsorships) is April 2. Learn more and apply.
- 📣 The Educating Character Initiative is excited to launch a renewed Invitation to Community and 2025 Request for Proposals inviting U.S. colleges & universities to apply for grants.
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.
Educating Character Initiative
Learn more about grants, resources, conferences, and learning opportunities provided and curated by our ECI Scholars and staff to educate character within higher education.
Professional Schools
See our approach and impact in law, medicine, and engineering at Wake Forest and beyond.
Resources
The Program for Leadership and Character is built upon the research and scholarly work of faculty at Wake Forest and beyond. Here’s a short list of resources from faculty and staff in our Program that you may find useful as you seek to educate character in your own context.
Stories From Our Program
Is it valuable to have a job you enjoy? To work in public service? To be open to changing your grand plans? NC Attorney General @jeffjacksonnc touched on those topics during his keynote address to our inaugural Leadership and Character in the Law Conference last week. You can find a recap and a video of the full speech and Q&A at the link in our bio.
Last week, our Class of 2026 Leadership and Character Scholars organized a Vocation Panel. The panelists (from left to right) included our Director of Programming Ann Phelps, Executive Director Michael Lamb, and Associate Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs Julia Jackson-Newsom. They spoke about discovering their own vocations, finding meaningful work that aligns with personal beliefs and passions, and provided guidance for students who are exploring potential career paths.
Thank you to everyone who participated in and attended the inaugural Leadership and Character in the Law Conference last week. On Friday, more than 20 panelists discussed several nuanced methods of educating character, creating professional identity, and promoting wellbeing to our future lawyer leaders. Many thanks to @wfulawschool and the @the_aals for their help in organizing this conference.
Some end of the week advice from @jeffjacksonnc to the @wfuniversity community.
More highlights from the N.C. Attorney General’s speech and our Leadership and Character in the Law Conference are coming next week.
Last night, North Carolina Attorney General @jeffjacksonnc delivered the keynote address to our inaugural Leadership and Character in the Law Conference. In it, he detailed his journey from a soldier in Afghanistan to prosecutor, state senator, member of Congress, and now, statewide office. “As a prosecutor, you get total fidelity to conscience,” he said. His job as attorney general “has to be about defense of people.”
Jackson, just 85 days into office, talked about building trust, the importance of learning limits to power, and his approach to leading the North Carolina Department of Justice and its 1,000-plus employees. “One of the things mission-driven people tend not to do is celebrate their wins,” he said. “We [as leaders] have to pause to celebrate.”
The Attorney General talked about several current and upcoming cases, and offered some closing thoughts to students who were getting ready to enter the workforce. “Rethink your grand plan, because there may be something wonderful out there,” he said. “If you would take a pay cut to do that job, that’s your mission.”
Jackson was introduced by @wfulawschool dean Andrew Klein, and the question-and-answer session was moderated by Allyson Gold, Associate Dean for Experiential Learning and Director of the Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP) Clinic. The conference is organized by the Program for Leadership and Character, Wake Forest Law, and the Association of American Law Schools (@the_aals).
Join us for an inspiring Vocation Panel, organized by our Leadership and Character Scholars Class of 2026, featuring panelists who have found meaning in their work. This event will take place on Friday, March 28th from 3:30-4:30 p.m. in the Pugh Auditorium (Benson Room 215). We hope you will join us!
North Carolina Attorney General @jeffjacksonnc will speak at @wfuniversity on Thursday at 6 p.m. as the keynote speaker for our inaugural "Leadership and Character in the Law" conference. We`re making a limited number of seats available for the Wake Forest and Winston-Salem community. Registration is required.
For more information, tap on the link in our bio.
The Freedom Dreams Mass Meeting will be held on March 27, 2025, at 6 p.m. in @hanesgallery. This special gathering aims to unite the community around its aspirations for freedom and democracy.
The event will feature convener and moderator Dr. Claire Crawford, Assistant Professor of Political and International Affairs and the Program of African American Studies, the inspiring Albany Civil Rights Institute Freedom Singers, Rev. Andria Williamson, M.Div. `17, Associate Chaplain and Director of Chapel Programs, High Point University Chapel & Religious Life, and Rev. Joshuah Brian Campbell, Director of Worship, Music, and the Arts, Wake Forest University School of Divinity and Director of the University Gospel Choir.
Together, they will share powerful messages through music about the ongoing journey toward freedom, equality, and justice, urging the community to rally behind its collective dreams.
Happening next week! In celebration of Women’s History Month, @wfu.class is leading their OWLS (Outreach Workshop Learning Series) event in the Women’s Center on Wednesday, March 26 from 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. We look forward to seeing you there!
Next week, join @wakecomm for a lecture by Associate Professor of Communication at University of Missouri, Dr. Rebecca Meisenbach (‘00). This event will take place on Tuesday, March 25 at 4 p.m. in Carswell Hall (Room 208). We hope to see you there!
Speas Elementary School students spent time on campus last week with student-athletes from @wakewbb and @wakefootball. While they were here, they were given a presentation about trust and mentorship, they received a campus tour, and had lunch in The Pit with several student-athletes. Wendell Dunn, Assistant Director of Leadership and Character in Athletics, helped to organize the visit.
We asked two of the student-athletes, Malaya Cowles (‘25) and Rylie Theuerkauf (‘27) to share why this experience was meaningful to them.
We’re excited to invite you to the inaugural Leadership and Character in the Law conference coming up on March 27th-28th. North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson will be our Keynote speaker, and the conference will kick off with a conversation between a current and a former NC Supreme Court Justice: Phil Berger Jr. and Michael Morgan. Visit our website for more details.