What’s New
- 🗳️ “There are certain gifts people are born with, but there is no question character can be developed by acknowledging errors and learning from your mistakes,” Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin told the Face to Face Student Forum. The event was moderated by Leadership and Character Scholars. Read more here.
- 🧳 We’re currently accepting proposals from graduate and professional faculty for travel-related (TICEL) grants. You can find more information and apply here.
- 🎥 Character In Class: Professor Cagney Gentry changed parts of his screenwriting course to encourage curiosity by looking for small stories. The results helped students see a bigger world beyond their own.
- ✏️ Learn more about our new Educating Character Initiative here, and sign up to be notified when we release new information in the coming months.
- 💼 We’re Hiring! See open positions here.
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Our Mission
The Program for Leadership and Character inspires, educates, and empowers leaders of character to serve humanity. Through innovative teaching, creative programming, and cutting-edge research, we aim to transform the lives of students, foster an inclusive culture of leadership and character at Wake Forest, and catalyze a broader public conversation that places character at the center of leadership.
Over the last decade, Wake Forest faculty have become leading experts in the study of character. The Program for Leadership and Character is now using this groundbreaking research to develop creative, liberal arts-based programming to transform the lives of our students.
We are excited to share who we are and what we aspire to do. We hope you will join us in this effort.

Courses
We teach courses on leadership and character and equip others to develop relevant courses.

College Programming
Our outside-the-classroom programs equip students to develop the character needed to lead with integrity.

Professional Schools
Our efforts in the professional schools prepare students to be leaders and professionals of character.

Conferences
We host conferences to facilitate broader reflection on leadership and character beyond Wake Forest.

C2C
Learn more about yourself and others through a Call to Conversation.

Research
We use rigorous research to assess our programs and share our results.