Capacity-Building Grants

Faculty, staff, and administrators often struggle to initiate character development across their institution’s curriculum and culture because they don’t have sufficient resources to implement their plans.

To address this challenge, the Educating Character Initiative — with support from Lilly Endowment Inc. — awards Capacity-Building Grants of up to $50,000 to institutions that wish to strengthen their ability to educate and embed character in their distinctive contexts. These grants may be especially useful for institutions that are just beginning to explore how to educate character, envisioning discrete projects that do not require substantial funding, and/or need support to plan for a larger grant application to the Educating Character Initiative or another funding organization in a future year.

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Current Grantees

Bard College
Character in Context at Bard College
Nicholas Alton Lewis, Christine Gonzalez Stanton

Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon Character Development Initiative
Michael C. Murphy

Carthage College
Virtue, Vocation, Reflection: Creating an integrated curriculum for the development of character at Carthage College
Stephanie Mitchell, Adam Miller-Stubbendick, Joseph Anderson 

Claflin University 
The Village: Reviving the Legacy of a Visionary Leadership Institute
Jonathan Smalls, LaKerri Mack

Columbia University
Liberatory Learning: Building Character and Community through Collaborative Education
Geraldine Downey,  Noah Remnick

Cornell University
Reshaping Higher Education’s Strategy for Community Engagement: Undergraduate Collective Impact Assessment
Basil A. Safi,  Richard Kiely

Duke University and North Carolina Central University
Capacity Building for Bridge Internship Program
Luke Powery, Bruce Puckett, Gloria Winston

Emory University
Emory Center for Ethics – Character Education through Courage and Discernment
John Lysaker, Edward Queen, Ira Bedzow, Anne-Elisabeth Courrier

Florida Atlantic University
Wise Owls: Building Character Education for FAU’s Future Environmental Leaders, and Educators
Bryan Nichols, Michelle Petersen

Florida Institute of Technology
Building Core Character: Developing Intellectual Character Virtues through the General Education Core
Andrew Aberdein, Heidi Hatfield Edwards, Lars Jones, Nikki Souris

Friends University
Becoming Friends: Forming Character in Communities of Practice
Lori A. Kanitz

Furman University
What Really Matters?: Exploring Character Education at Furman University
Alexis Carter Thomas, Vaughn Crowe Tipton

Georgetown College
Cultivating Virtues of Love, Justice, and Responsibility: Exploring Character Education at Georgetown College
Shelly P. Johnson and Roger Ward

Gordon College
Intergroup Dialogue Program for Character Formation at Gordon College
Scott Hwang

Indiana University, Indianapolis 
Global Ethics, Civic Character, and Leadership
Jason M. Kelly,  Lasana D. Kazembe

Loyola University Chicago
Undergraduate Jesuit Character Education at Loyola University Chicago
Joseph Vukov, Shannon Howes, Michael B. Burns, James Flavin, Michael P. Murphy

Mercer University
Pathways to Virtue: Building Institutional Capacity for Character Education
Juanita Kimiyo Forrester, William J. Carty, Jennifer L. Bartlett, Susan Codone, Rob Helfenbein

Mount Mary University
Trust & Dare: Building Capacity Through a Character Commonplace Curriculum
Kristen Carioti, Jennifer Kontny, Zac Karanovich

New Jersey Institute of Technology 
Educating the Whole Engineer: Incorporating Virtues as Learning Outcomes in Fundamentals of Engineering Design Courses at New Jersey Institute of Technology
J. Britt Holbrook, Ashish Borgaonkar

North Central College
Developing Disruptors: Fostering Curiosity, Compassion, and Courage to Dismantle Injustice
Suzanne Chod, Christina Shaheen Moosa 

Ohio University
“Life Is Abundant”: Character Education in Appalachian Ohio
Mary Kate Hurley, Christopher S. Lewis 

Olin College of Engineering 
Connecting Civic Virtue and Undergraduate Engineering
Erhardt Graeff, Andrea Cuadra

Roanoke College
How Character and Leadership Intersect with Purpose Discernment and Intellectual Inquiry
Kathy Wolfe, Stephen Capaldo 

Saint Catherine University
Leading for Social Justice: Creating a Collaborative Curriculum to Foster Love of Dear Neighbor
Sophie Hunt, Rachel Neiwert

Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota
Expanding Undergraduate Access and Recognizing Character
Michael Hahn, Andrew LaMere

Southern Methodist University
From Nodes to Networks: Defining, Unifying, and Promoting Character Education at SMU
Rita Kirk, Matt Nadler

Southern Wesleyan University
From Knowledge to Wisdom and Character: Building a Transformative Core Curriculum in the Christian Liberal Arts Tradition
Trudy Summers, Chad Stutz

State University of New York 
State University of New York (SUNY) Empire State Service Corps
Matt Schaffer

Taylor University
Exploring Community-Driven Character Development in the Taylor University Honors Guild
Scott Moeschberger

Tulane University
“Non sibi, sed suis” (Not for oneself but for one’s own): Re-envisioning Tulane’s Credo by Centering Civic Leadership
Michael Brumbaugh, Lucas Díaz, Agnieszka Nance

University of Alabama
Using Character Education to Encourage Sentinel Behavior Among Business Students
Todd DeZoort, Troy Pollard

University of Dayton and Sinclair Community College
Building a Common Language of Character Across a Public Community College and a Private 4-Year University
Nancy Arden McHugh, Myra Bozeman

University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign
The Illinois Way: Cultivating Civic Character and Purpose Through Service Learning
Chris Napolitano, Chrystalla Mouza, Emily Stone, Kaylin Ratner, Olivia Hagedorn, Katie Shumway

University of Memphis
Ascend University of Memphis
Jamie Brunsdon

University of North Carolina at Pembroke
Resilient Leaders – Character Education Through Leadership Development, Community Engagement, and Experiential Learning
Evan Long, Shania McMillian

University of Portland
Educating Character by Engaging the Sainte-Croix Mission Reflection Model at the University of Portland
Valerie Banschbach, Tshombé Brown, Evan Leadem, Steven Mayer, Edwin Obermiller, Stephanie Salomone

University of South Carolina, Columbia 
Building Bridges of Character: A Perspective Honoring Approach to Ethical Leadership
Meir Muller, Devin Randolph

University of the South
Coalescing Around a Common Language for Character Formation
Amy S. Patterson, Lydia Reinig

Warren Wilson College
Character in Action: Exploring Factors of Climate Resilience and Climate Citizenship
Jay W. Roberts, Siti Kusujiarti, Annie Jonas

Westmont College
Westmont’s Initium Program: A New First-Year Seminar Integrating Intellectual, Moral, and Spiritual Formation
Eileen McMahon McQuade, Steve Porter

Wright State University
Developing Character Champions on Campus
Rachel E. Sturm