Building Communities of Character Conference
Learn, share, and engage with us.
Join us at Wake Forest University to discuss educating character in higher education. Registration is now open.
Conference Details
| WHEN: | December 3-5, 2026 |
| WHERE: | Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC |
| KEYNOTE SPEAKER: | Michael Schur Director, Producer, Author of How To Be Perfect |
| PRESENTED BY: | The Educating Character Initiative, on behalf of the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University |
LEARN MORE: Overview |Keynote Speaker| More Info | Registration | Sponsors and Organizers
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Conference Overview
Building Communities of Character is an international, interdisciplinary conference designed to foster conversation, collaboration, and community in support of a movement for character education in higher education.
The three-day gathering is hosted by the Program for Leadership and Character and its Educating Character Initiative, and will be held on campus at Wake Forest University from December 3-5.
During our time together, we hope to:
- cultivate community among educators from different backgrounds and institutions who learn from and support each other in the work of educating character in their own institutional contexts;
- deepen our collective understanding of character and what it means to foster character education in higher education settings;
- equip faculty, staff, and administrators with concepts, strategies, and resources to support their efforts to educate character in distinct contexts; and
- create spaces for interdisciplinary and cross-institutional conversations that promote collaboration and partnership across academic specializations, institutional silos, and between institutions.
Keynote Speaker
In partnership with Face to Face Speaker Forum, the Program for Leadership and Character will welcome Michael Schur to the stage as the keynote speaker for the conference — Communities of Impact for Educating Character. Over his nearly 30-year career, Schur has created or co-created shows like A Man On The Inside, The Good Place, Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn 99, Rutherford Falls, and the new show Dig on Peacock. He has also served as Executive Producer on The Office, Hacks, and Master of None, among others. His first TV writing job was at Saturday Night Live, where he spent seven seasons, including three as the producer of “Weekend Update” with Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon. In 2022, he authored The New York Times Bestseller How to Be Perfect. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Jennifer and their two children.
This moderated discussion will take place on December 3 at 6 p.m. inside Wait Chapel at Wake Forest University. Tickets are required and will be provided to conference attendees as part of the registration process.
More Conference Info
- The conference begins on Thursday, Dec. 3, with a poster session featuring ECI grantee institutions. That evening will feature the keynote discussion with Michael Schur.
- The plenary session on Friday, Dec. 4, will feature a panel of journalists, including Sara Custer, editor-in-chief of Inside Higher Education; E.J. Dionne, commentator and senior fellow of governance studies at the Brookings Institution; and Christine Emba, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. They will engage in a wide-ranging conversation moderated by Marjorie Malpiede, editor-in-chief of LearningWell Magazine, about character and the current moment in higher education.
- Concurrent sessions on Dec. 4 and 5 will include presentations and conversations focusing on a range of themes, including: the public purposes of higher education; character and academic leadership; bridging academic and student affairs; educating character in distinct institutional contexts (e.g., HBCUs, faith-based institutions, prison education programs, public research institutions); questions about character and character education (e.g., the relationship between intellectual, moral, and civic virtue; character, reconciliation, and repair; great texts and character education); and pedagogical and scholarly resources for educating character.
- The conference will conclude on Dec. 5 with a plenary session formally launching ECI’s Communities of Impact (CoI) Initiative. This session will highlight an important movement in our work from a project for the community to a community-driven initiative. In addition to narrating this shift, the session will highlight CoI grant opportunities, a significant research study on communities of character, and the new community platform, Character Commons, which will serve as a third-space for collaboration, connection, and collective learning.
Registration
Registration is open! Space is limited, and we anticipate filling quickly. To facilitate a smooth registration for all, please click the button below to indicate your interest in attending. Important: The interest form is not yet registration, nor is it a guarantee of registration. We will process interest forms as we receive them, and follow up with an invitation to complete registration as we are able. Please click the button below to indicate your interest in attending Building Communities of Character.
Update: We are so pleased by the remarkable number of requests for registration. Thank you, all! Due to high volume, interest forms received October 1 and onward will be added to the waitlist for registration. If you submitted an interest form prior to October 1 but have not yet been able to register, we will reach out to you in a direct message.
Sponsorship
This conference and keynote are made possible through the generous support of Lilly Endowment Inc., the Kern Family Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, the Face to Face Speaker Forum, and Wake Forest University.
About the Organizers
The Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University aims to inspire, educate, and empower leaders of character to serve humanity. Through innovative teaching, creative programming, and cutting-edge research, the Program seeks 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.
The Educating Character Initiative is catalyzing a movement for character education at colleges and universities across the United States. Through our work in grantmaking, collective learning, and community engagement, we equip institutions of higher education with the funding, resources, and support necessary to integrate character into their distinctive institutional contexts, curricula, and cultures. Our broad aspiration is to enable institutions of higher education to become communities of character that form students, staff, and faculty to act with character and for the common good. For more information on the Educating Character Initiative, visit our website and register for the ECI Community.