The ECI’s Michael Prinzing reanalyzes data supporting claims about the declining use of the language of virtue and character and sees a different trend – that the cultural salience of moral language of this kind is on the rise.
Categories: Educating Character Initiative News
At UNC, a new initiative called Educating for the Virtues of Attention (EVA) intervenes in the “attention economy” for students. Unlike typical digital detoxes, EVA is less about eliminating the distraction than it is centering what’s truly worthy of our attention. The goal is to help students reflect on their habits of attention and build more intentional ones through opportunities for deep in-person engagement across campus.
Categories: Educating Character Initiative News
The ECI’s Aaron D. Cobb and Emily Hunt-Hinojosa reflect on the influence moral repair has on individuals’ and communities’ ability to build character.
Categories: Educating Character Initiative News
The Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School welcomed its inaugural cohort of HBCU Moral Fusion Scholars to campus in May. Their commitment to awaken “a new heart and a new hope through a moral commitment to prioritizing love, truth and justice,” renews hope for the future for this essay’s authors.
Categories: Educating Character Initiative News
Baylor University’s Andrew Hogue and the ECI’s Emily Hunt-Hinojosa share learnings from the Common Good Character Trust. Through the group’s discussions, they discovered that “character-building efforts that aim at the common good need a model of character formation that accounts more fully for institutions, cultures, and broader social forces.”
Categories: Educating Character Initiative News
In the first installment of a new series, Aaron D. Cobb, ECI’s Director of Collective Learning, invites us to consider whether courage is a virtue we can develop on our own. Practicing by ourselves is not enough. We need guides: people who can help shape how we learn and show us what good practice looks like.
Categories: Educating Character Initiative News
A diverse group of coaches, athletic directors, trainers, and academics came together to discuss the challenges and opportunities of promoting character development in college sports.
Categories: Educating Character Initiative News
“This letter describes what my imagined companions—sociological archetypes to draw out complexities beyond my own experience and knowledge—might encounter together on the path to joy,” writes Senior Research Scholar & Associate Director of Partnerships Emily Hunt-Hinojosa in this month’s Virtues & Vocations magazine.
Categories: Educating Character Initiative News
We’re pleased to share the Educating Character Initiative 2025 Project Brief, a snapshot of our shared work and its direction. This document reflects the ECI Community’s collective efforts and commitment to forming students, institutions, and cultures shaped by character for the common good.
Categories: Educating Character Initiative News
In 2025, ECI Webinars brought together diverse perspectives on how communities can cultivate wholeness, reciprocity, care, justice, and hospitality, and how character can be intentionally developed through community.
Categories: Educating Character Initiative News