C0nference
Educating Character Across Differences: Cultivating Communities of Character in the University
Jesmyn Ward—author, professor, and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient—will kick off a major conference hosted by the Educating Character Initiative (ECI) on behalf of the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University. The conference, Educating Character Across Differences: Cultivating Communities of Character in the University, will be held December 5-7, 2024, at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC.
Grant Q&A Sessions
Interested in applying for a 2025 Educating Character Initiative Grant? Learn about each grant type and ask questions at our online Grant Information Q&A Sessions with the ECI Team. Sessions will be held in November and December 2024 and January 2025.
Educating Character Initiative Flourishing Student International Webinar Series
This series, hosted by the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues (University of Birmingham, UK) and co-sponsored by the Educating Character Initiative at the Program for Leadership and Character (Wake Forest University), is the second the Flourishing Student webinar series. Each episode is a character program spotlight focused on one institution around the world.
Past Events :
Fall 2024 Webinar Series Recordings: How to Assess and Measure Character Education in the University
Session 1: Character Assessment in the University Classroom: The Value of Feedback for Teachers and Learners in any Discipline
Session Leader: Betsy Barre, Assistant Provost & Executive Director, Center for the Advancement of Teaching, Wake Forest University
Description: When faculty hear “character assessment,” we sometimes think we are being asked to do a kind of data collection outside of, and at no value-add to, teaching in our area of expertise. In this session, Betsy Barre will lead a conversation about why classroom assessment is not just about measurement or social science; rather, she shows us such assessment plays a valuable role in course design, faculty understanding of classroom success, and student growth. Barre will introduce some principles and examples of effective assessment for disciplines across the university, as well as consider some of the risks and challenges with assessing character in the context of classroom relationships.
Session 2: Introduction to Program Planning and Evaluation for Character Programs
Session Leader: Jennifer Brown Urban, Professor of Family Science and Human Development, Co-Director of the Institute for Research on Youth Thriving and Evaluation, Montclair State University
Description: Developing and implementing a character education program is challenging enough. Knowing how to articulate your distinct approach to character, connecting it to what we know from research, and having a plan for evaluating that program is a whole other challenge. In this session, Jennifer Urban will provide you with practical strategies and tools for articulating your programmatic theory of change, connecting your approach to the already existing literature on character development, and developing an evaluation and measurement strategy.
In her presentation, Jennifer Urban mentions Netway (www.evaluationnetway.com), which is software that can be used to make pathway models. Netway also contains the entire Systems Evaluation Protocol including videos, worksheets, and frequently asked questions.
Learn more about how to create a pathway model at Research Gate Guide to the Systems Evaluation Protocol.
Session 3: An Introduction to Character Measurement
Session Leaders:
● Eranda Jayawickreme, Harold W. Tribble Professor of Psychology and Senior Research Fellow, Program for Leadership and Character, Wake Forest University
● Juliette Ratchford, Research Fellow, Educating Character Initiative, Wake Forest University
Description: As part of developing character-related programs, it is important to assess the impact of these programs on character development. In this session, Eranda Jayawickreme and Juliette Ratchford will introduce different types of character measures, what questions each type can address, and cover common problems and potential solutions to assessing character specifically. This session will prepare participants to make informed choices on which measures they should select for assessing the impact of their program.
Session 4: Virtue Measurement: Designing for Context, Change, and Culture: An Introduction to Character Measurement
Session Leaders:
● Kendra Thomas, Associate Professor of Psychology, Hope College
● Elise Dykhuis, Assistant Professor, United States Military Academy West Point
Description: When considering good educational practice, we want to ensure that we are using good pedagogical and psychometric techniques to support character development. Character assessments vary in their validity and reliability and are often not designed to measure development in context. This session will prepare participants to avoid the most common pitfalls and provide examples of feasible alternatives. Dr. Dykhuis works on character assessment of college students in context, providing robust personalized feedback to promote professional and character development. Dr. Thomas has experience creating and adapting measures to Brazilian schools and to South African home-
mentoring contexts. Both strive to use psychological assessment to promote character development.
Session 5: Workshop: Ten Myths of Methodology for Studying Character Development or for Evaluating Character Education Programs
Session Leaders from the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development:
● Richard M. Lerner, Professor, Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science, and Institute Director, Tufts University
● Elizabeth M. Dowling, Research Professor and Deputy Institute Director, Tufts University
● Roya Abbasi-Asl, Research Assistant Professor, Tufts University
Description: The goal of this workshop is to add to the methodological toolboxes of evaluators of character education programs, and of researchers studying character development, change-sensitive and, as well, dynamic approaches to research design, measurement, and data analysis. Session leaders will aim to (1) acquaint participants with the concepts and associated vocabulary needed to make key decisions about the best designs, measures, and analyses for the specific theory-based question they are using, (2) explain the different methodological options available for ascertaining change or dynamic change across time and place, as well as assess the strengths and limitations of each method, (3) consider empirical examples that have used these methods in actual evaluation or research projects alongside different methodological strategies available for each example, and (4) provide resources for further learning, consultation, or collaboration.
This session was an in-person workshop held at ECI’s Educating Character Across Differences Conference, December 5-7, 2024, at Wake Forest University.
You can find the slides from this presentation here.
Session 6: Assessing Character in the University: Insights from Wake Forest University
Session Leaders from the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University:
● Rebecca Park, Senior Research Scholar in the College
● Jessica Koehler, Senior Research Scholar in the Professional Schools
● Susan Fesperman, Research Project Manager in the College
Description: Session leaders will lead a workshop designed to help participants (1) understand how the PLC has approached the basic principles of research and program evaluation, (2) gain a more general awareness of a multitude of research methodologies and data management strategies that can be applied in the field of character education, and (3) help participants think about how they might begin to collect and analyze data for their own context and goals.
This session was an in-person workshop held at ECI’s Educating Character Across Differences Conference, December 5-7, 2024, at Wake Forest University.
Spring 2024 Webinar Series Recordings: How to Educate Character in the University
Session 1: How to Build the Institutional Capacity to Educate Character: Lessons Learned at Wake Forest University
Session Leaders: Michael Lamb, Executive Director of the Program for Leadership and Character, and Kenneth Townsend, Executive Director of Leadership and Character in the Professional Schools, Wake Forest University
Description: In this session Michael Lamb and Kenneth Townsend shared their experiences building institutional capacity for educating character by sharing insights from their work at Wake Forest University. They reflected on lessons learned while establishing the Program for Leadership and Character as they looked back on their efforts to engage diverse stakeholders, build faculty and staff partnerships, and support the character development of students. Watch their presentation here, or below:
Listen to the entire webinar presentation and a question-and-answer session below:
Session 2: Seven Strategies for Cultivating Virtue in the University
Session Leader: Michael Lamb, Executive Director of the Program for Leadership and Character, Wake Forest University
Description: In this session Michael Lamb will provide a theoretical framework and practical examples for seven strategies of character development: (1) habituation through practice, (2) reflection on personal experience, (3) engagement with virtuous exemplars, (4) dialogue that increases virtue literacy, (5) awareness of situational variables, (6) moral reminders, and (7) friendships of mutual accountability. Based on work at Wake Forest and with the Oxford Character Project, these seven strategies offer potential guidance for educators who aspire to develop character education programs in their institutions.
Listen to the entire webinar presentation and a question-and-answer session below:
Session 3: Teaching for Intellectual Virtues: Integrating Character Education with Academic Teaching and Learning
Session Leader: Jason Baehr, Professor of Philosophy, Loyola Marymount University
Description: For educators interested in forming the character of their students, it can be difficult to know how to integrate this concern with the everyday business of teaching academic content and skills. A focus on intellectual virtues – understood as the character attributes of good thinkers and learners – offers a promising way of addressing this challenge. In this session Jason Baehr, an expert on intellectual virtues and their cultivation, will provide an overview of intellectual virtues and identify some practical steps teachers can take to support their students’ growth in these qualities.
Session 4: Cultivating College Students’ Civic Character in the University Setting
Session Leaders: Diane Ryan, Associate Dean for Programs and Administration and Affiliate Associate Professor in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Studies and Human Development at the Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University and Sunah Hyun, Senior Researcher at Tisch College.
Description: During this session, Diane Ryan and Sunah Hyun will share a brief overview of the Tisch College of Civic Life to provide examples of their programs and best practices designed to foster students’ character development. The programs aim to equip students with the values, knowledge, and skills to address social issues and create meaningful change. Tisch College fosters a supportive community to enhance engagement at Tufts University and beyond. The session will also include an explanation of the evaluation framework and the development of objectives specific to different programs.
You can find the slides from this presentation here.
Session 5: Panel Discussion: Educating Character Across Differences
Panelists:
– Robyn Ilten-Gee (Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University) considers ways educators can facilitate moral decision-making and reasoning through social justice education and digital media production. She understands character to be a dynamic set of systems that grow and interact with our ever-changing contexts.
– Chrystal Johnson (Associate Professor of Social Studies Education, Purdue University) works in the fields of character education, citizenship development, and the social studies. Her current research interests focus on race, culturally consonant pedagogy, character development, civic education, and schools of choice.
– Ashley Floyd Kuntz, (Assistant Professor of Higher Education, Florida International University) emphasizes the connection between conceptions of the good life and character education on college campuses. As faculty at the nation’s largest Hispanic-Serving Institution, Dr. Kuntz participates in a multicultural, multinational, multilingual community with numerous opportunities to cultivate intellectual curiosity and humility.
Educating Character Initiative Webinar Series: Character Program Spotlight
A series of workshops shining a spotlight on excellent programs in educating character, co-sponsored by the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues:
Episodes from Series 1 of the Flourishing Student webinars are available to watch here.
Oxford Character Project (University of Oxford)
Session Leaders: Dr. Edward Brooks, Executive Director of the Oxford Character Project & Anjali Sarker, Programme Manager Oxford Character Project
Date/Time: February 29, 2024
Notes: Part of the Flourishing Student International Webinar Series, in partnership with the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues
Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership (Ivey Business School)
Session Leaders: Dusya Vera, Executive Director, Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership, Professor, Strategy & General Management; & Gerard Seijts, Professor, Organizational Behaviour; former/founding Executive Director and Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership
Date/Time: May 15, 2024 at 10 a.m.
Notes: Part of the Flourishing Student International Webinar Series, in partnership with the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues
Civic Humanism Centre for Character and Professional Ethics (University of Navarra)
Session Leaders: Emma Cohen de Lara, Director of the “Leadership as Service Program. Developing Purpose and Character”, University of Navarra & José M. Torralba, Assistant to the Vice President for Student Affairs, University of Navarra
Date/Time: July 2, 2024 at 11 a.m.
Notes: Part of the Flourishing Student International Webinar Series, in partnership with the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues
ECI Community Book Club
Leading up to our December conference, we will be hosting conversations on three books, one per month, authored by a few of our featured speakers at the conference. We invite anyone in the ECI Community to read the books and join us for online discussions.
Book 1:
Let Us Descend by
Jesmyn Ward
Book: Let Us Descend by our Conference keynote speaker, Jesmyn Ward, Professor of English & Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Tulane University.
Discussion Leader: Rebecca Permar, Postdoctoral Fellow in Leadership and Character for Pre-Health Professions at Wake Forest University
Date/Time: Thursday, September 5, 4-5 pm ET via Zoom
Book 2:
Learning to Disagree
by
John Inazu
Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect by our Conference plenary panelist, John Inazu, Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion at Washington University in St. Louis and founder of The Carver Project and the Legal Vocation Fellowship and a Senior Fellow at Interfaith America and the Trinity Forum.
Discussion Leader: Emily Hunt-Hinojosa, Senior Research Scholar and Associate Director of Partnerships for the Program for Leadership and Character’s Educating Character Initiative (ECI) at Wake Forest University
Date/Time: Thursday, October 3, 4 – 5 pm ET via Zoom
Book 3: Don’t Label Me: An Incredible Conversation for Divided Times by Irshad Manji
Don’t Label Me:
An Incredible Conversation for Divided Times
by Irshad Manji
Book: Don’t Label Me: An Incredible Conversation for Divided Times by our Conference plenary speaker, Irshad Manji, Founder of Moral Courage College and lecturer with Oxford University’s Initiative for Global Ethics and Human Rights.
Discussion Leader: Liz Whiting, Director for Leadership and Character Formation in the School of Medicine at Wake Forest University
Date/Time: Thursday, November 7, 4 – 5 pm ET via Zoom