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 at Wake Forest (shown in bold below) that you may find useful as you seek to educate character in your own context.
For questions, please email us at leadershipandcharacter@wfu.edu.
How To Find Resources
Webinars
How to Educate Character in the University Webinar Series
These five webinars, hosted by the Educating Character Initiative, were recorded in Spring 2024.
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.
Session Leader: Michael Lamb, Executive Director of the Program for Leadership and Character, Wake Forest University
Description: In this session Michael Lamb provided 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.
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, provided an overview of intellectual virtues and identified some practical steps teachers can take to support their students’ growth in these qualities.
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
- 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.
Panelists:
- Robyn Ilten-Gee: Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University
- Chrystal Johnson: Associate Professor of Social Studies Education, Purdue University
- Ashley Floyd Kuntz: Assistant Professor of Higher Education, Florida International University
Description: In this session, panelists discuss educating character across differences, from theory to classroom activities.
Explore By Topic
Why Character in Higher Education?
VIDEO: How to Build the Institutional Capacity to Educate Character: Lessons Learned at Wake Forest
- Brooks, E., Lamb, M. & Brant, J. (2022). Should universities cultivate virtue?: A case for character in higher education. In Cultivating Virtue in the University (pp. 3–26).Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Lamb, M., Brooks, E. & Brant, J. (2022) Character education in the university: Opportunities and challenges. In Cultivating Virtue in the University (pp. 253–277). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
How to Educate Character
VIDEO: Seven Strategies for Cultivating Virtue in the University
- Brant, J., Brooks, E., and Lamb, M. Cultivating virtue in the university. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022.
- Allman, K. R., Maranges, H. M., Whiting, E., Park, R., and Lamb, M. (2024). Exploring character in community: Faculty development in a university-level community of practice. Journal of College and Character, 25(3), 221-238.
- Lamb, M., Brant, J., & Brooks, E. (2022). Seven strategies for cultivating virtue in the university. In Cultivating Virtue in the University (pp. 115–156). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Lamb, M. (Summer 2023). How to educate hope. Virtues & Vocations.
- Lamb, M., Dykhuis, E., Mendonça, S. & Jayawickreme, E. (2022). Commencing character: A case study of character development in college. Journal of Moral Education, 51(2), 238–260.
- Lamb, M. and Townsend, K. (2024). Wake Forest University’s Program for Leadership and Character: A case study. In M.D. Matthews & R.M. Lerner (Eds.), The Routledge International Handbook of Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Character Development, Volume II (pp. 369-389). New York: Routledge.
- Miller, C. B. The character gap: How good are we? New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.
- Phelps, A. and Brown, D. ( 2023). Exemplars embodied: Can acting form moral character? Educational Theory, 73(5), 728-749.
How to Assess Character
Measuring character is notoriously difficult and varies dramatically depending on your research questions and design, your context and population, and available time and resources, both for the study participants and the researchers.
- Collier‐Spruel, L., Hawkins, A., Jayawickreme, E., Fleeson, W., & Furr, R. M. (2019). Relativism or tolerance? Defining, assessing, connecting, and distinguishing two moral personality features with prominent roles in modern societies. Journal of Personality, 87(6), 1170-1188.
- Dykhuis, E., Ratchford, J. & Schnitker, S. (2023) Contextualized measurement of virtues: best practices and innovations. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 19(5), 862-868.
- Dykhuis, E. M., Mendonça, S. E., Jayawickreme, E., and Lamb, M. (2024). The moral role models scale: Assessing connections to and functions of moral exemplars. Journal of Moral Education, 1-19.
- Mendonça, S., Dykhuis, E. & Lamb M. (2023). Purposeful change: The positive effects of a course-based intervention on character. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 19(2), 323-336.
- Maranges, H. M., Allman, K. R., Mendonça, S. E., and Lamb, M. (2024). Exemplars of purpose: Reliance on moral exemplars supports college students’ purpose in life. International Journal of Educational Research, 123, 102269.
- Zachry, C. E., Phan, L. V., Blackie, L. E., & Jayawickreme, E. (2018). Situation-based contingencies underlying wisdom-content manifestations: Examining intellectual humility in daily life. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 73(8), 1404-1415.
Virtues and Vices
- Miller, C. B. (2015). Empathy as the only hope for the virtue of compassion and as support for a limited unity of the virtues. Philosophy, Theology, and the Sciences, 2(1), 89-113.
- Miller, C. B. (May 2022). What is forgiveness? The Future of Flourishing Blog. Templeton World Charity Foundation.
- Miller, C. B. (2018). Generosity: A preliminary account of a surprisingly neglected virtue. Metaphilosophy, 49(3), 216-245.
- Miller, C. B. (May 2018). True generosity involves more than just giving. Aeon.
- Miller, C. B. (2021). Honesty: The philosophy and psychology of a neglected virtue. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Miller, C. B. and West, R. (Eds.) (2020). Integrity, honesty, and truth seeking. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Miller, C. B. (forthcoming). Fostering honesty: A case study in character education. In J. Beale & C. Easton (Eds.), The Future of Education: Reimagining Its Aims and Responsibilities. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Reynolds, C. J., Stokes, E., Jayawickreme, E., & Furr, R. M. (2023). Truthfulness predominates in Americans’ conceptualization of honesty. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1461672231195355–1461672231195355.
- Lamb, M. (Summer 2023). How to educate hope. Virtues & Vocations. University of Notre Dame.
- Lamb, M. (June 2023). Be what you hope for. Aeon.
- Lamb, M. (2024). Difficult hope: Wendell Berry and climate change. In N.E. Snow (Ed.), The Virtue of Hope, (pp. 345–380). New York: Oxford University Press.
- Lamb, M. (2016). Aquinas and the virtues of hope: Theological and democratic. Journal of Religious Ethics, 44(2), 300–332.
- Townsend, K. (2023). The necessity of hope in legal education: Character development in pluralist contexts age. Journal of Christian Legal Thought, 13(2), 7-13.
- Ducharme, J. & Allman, K. R. (forthcoming). Fostering intellectual humility among undergraduate students: Integrating the seven strategies of character development. In J.L. DeVitis and P. A. Sasso (Eds.), Human Flourishing and Higher Education: Critical Social and Cultural Perspectives. Information Age Publishing.
- Porter, T., Baldwin, C. R., Warren, M. T., Murray, E. D., Cotton Bronk, K., Forgeard, M. J. C., Snow, N. E., & Jayawickreme, E. (2022). Clarifying the content of intellectual humility: A systematic review and integrative framework. Journal of Personality Assessment, 104(5), 573–585.
- Furr, R. M., Miller, C. B., Cole, J., Porth, A., Li, J. and Good, R. (forthcoming). What is patience? Insights emerging from an integration of philosophy and psychology. In S. Schnitker & M. Pianalto (Eds.), Patience. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Brady, M., & Jayawickreme, E. (2023). A philosophical approach to improving empirical research on posttraumatic growth. Philosophical Psychology, 1-24.
- Infurna, F. J., & Jayawickreme, E. (Eds.). (2021). Redesigning research on post-traumatic growth: Challenges, pitfalls, and new directions. Oxford University Press.
- Lamb, M., Taylor-Collins, E., and Silverglate, C. (2019). Character education for social action: A conceptual analysis of the #iwill campaign. Journal of Social Science Education, 18(1), 125–152.
- Gross, M. Wiinikka-Lydon, J., Lamb, M., Pierrakos, O. and Yeaman, A. (2021). The virtues of teamwork: A course module to cultivate the virtuous team worker. In 2021 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition.
- Brown, D. & Lamb M. (2022). Digital temperance: Adapting an ancient virtue for our technological age. Ethics and Information Technology, 24(4), 24-50.
Character-Based Leadership
Benjamin Rigney, Assistant Director for Leadership and Character in the Law School, held a session on virtuous leadership at our 2023 Course Development and Redesign Workshop. You can watch it here:
Several colleagues at the Wake Forest School of Business have written extensively about leadership. In addition, the school’s Allegacy Center for Leadership and Character has an extensive collection of resources related to leadership.
- Sweeney, P. J. (2024). Character development in leadership and organizational studies. In M.D. Matthews & R.M. Lerner (Eds.), The Routledge International Handbook of Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Character Development, Volume I (pp. 203-221). New York: Routledge.
- Hannah S. T., Avolio B. J., & Walumbwa F. O. (2011). Relationships between authentic leadership, moral courage, and ethical and pro-social behaviors. Business Ethics Quarterly, 21(4), 555-578.
- Jennings, P. L., Mitchell M. S., & Hannah S. T. (2015). The moral self: A review and integration of the literature. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(S1), S104–S168.
- Harms, P. D., Spain, S. M. & Hannah, S. T. (2011). Leader development and the dark side of personality. The Leadership Quarterly, 22(3), 495-509.
- Gok, K., Sumanth, J. J., Bommer, W. H., Demirtas, O., Arslan, A., Eberhard, J., Ozdermir, A. I. & Yigit, A. (2017). You may not reap what you sow: How employees’ moral awareness minimizes ethical leadership’s positive impact on workplace deviance. Journal of Business Ethics, 146, 257–277.
- Hannah, S. T., Sumanth, J. J., Lester, P. and Cavarretta, F. (2014), Debunking the false dichotomy of leadership idealism and pragmatism: Critical evaluation and support of newer genre leadership theories. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35(5), 598-621.
Educating Character in the Professions
VIDEO: Character, Engineering, and Tech (from our Character and the Professions conference, 2021)
- Pierrakos, O., Prentice, M., Silverglate, C., Lamb, M., Demaske, A., & Smout, R. (2019, October). Reimagining engineering ethics: From ethics education to character education. In 2019 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) (pp. 1-9). IEEE.
- Koehler, J., Pierrakos, O., Lamb, M., Demaske, A., Santos, C., Gross, M. D., & Brown, D. F. (2020, June). What can we learn from character education? A literature review of four prominent virtues in engineering education. In 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access.
- Koehler, J., Pierrakos, O., Yeaman, A. (2023, June). Character development in the engineering classroom: An exploratory, mixed-methods investigation of student perspectives on cultivating character. In 2023 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition.
- Cochran, W.B. and Allman, K. (2023). Cultivating moral agency in a technology ethics course. Teaching Ethics, 23(1), 15-34.
VIDEO: Character and Law (from our Character and the Professions conference, 2021)
- Lloyd, Harold (2022). The role of virtue in legal analysis. Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal, 32, 315-353
- Townsend, K. (2023). Forming good lawyers. Wake Forest Law Review, 58, 981.
- Townsend, K. (2023). The necessity of hope in legal education: Character Development in Pluralist Contexts Age. Journal of Christian Legal Thought, 13, 7.
- Townsend, K. (2021). Preconditions of leadership in law. Wake Forest Law Review, 56, 859.
- Townsend, K. (2024). Purpose, practical wisdom, and the formation of trustworthy lawyers. Mercer Law Review, 75(5), 3.
VIDEO: Character and Medicine (from our Character and the Professions conference, 2021)
- Love, C., James, J. C. & Freeman, K. (2024). Holistic Personal and Professional Development: Implementing a Longitudinal Coaching Model.
- Permar, R. – Pre-Health advising workbook (link)
- Permar, R. – “Good Healer” workbook (link)
- Freischlag, J. A., & Faria, P. (2018). It is time for women (and men) to be brave: A consequence of the #MeToo movement. JAMA, 319(17), 1761-1762.
- Freischlag, J. A., & Silva, M. M. (2016). Bouncing up: Resilience and women in academic medicine. Journal of the American College of surgeons, 223(2), 215-220.
- Freischlag, J. A. (2018). Burnout and depression among general surgery residents: Image is everything—it alters perception. JAMA surgery, 153(8), 711-711.