The ECI Research Team often gets questions like the above from educators leading character-related projects. Before discussing assessment tools, we first need to answer a deeper question: What kind(s) of evidence could tell us whether your institution or program is having the intended effect on students?
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
“Many American colleges are elevating discussions of character. Wake Forest University has developed the Educating Character Initiative, a national network of colleges committed to putting character at the center of curriculum,” writes Clark Gilbert in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Categories: Educating Character Initiative News
United Negro College Fund’s Jelani Favors and the ECI’s Emily Hunt-Hinojosa and Michael Prinzing make the argument that character education efforts at HBCUs have been underappreciated. To kick off conversations around research on the role of HBCUs in educating character, they invite you to collaborate and join the discussion.
Categories: Educating Character Initiative News
In the episode, Aaron Cobb discusses hope—not just as a feeling or a fleeting optimism, but as a virtue that shapes character and community.
Categories: Educating Character Initiative News
The Educating Character Initiative announced a request for proposals from U.S. colleges and universities for grants between $50,000 and $1,000,000 to develop the character of their faculty, staff, and students.
Categories: Educating Character Initiative News
Thanks to the support of Lilly Endowment Inc. and Wake Forest University, the Educating Character Initiative (ECI) has awarded $15.6 million in new Institutional Impact Grants to 28 projects among 33 colleges and universities. Each of these institutions seeks to undertake a substantial and sustained effort to educate character in undergraduate populations across their institutions.
Categories: Educating Character Initiative News
Wake Forest University’s Educating Character Initiative (ECI) will expand its support for character education at colleges and universities across the country with more than $30 million in new funding from Lilly Endowment Inc.
Categories: Educating Character Initiative News
The first in a series of stories by LearningWell on the Educating Character Initiative and the efforts of our member institutions.
Categories: Educating Character Initiative News
“I felt a real energy around the importance of character in higher education,” said Michael Lamb, our executive director. “We often talk about character, but this conference showed how educators are really seeking to develop character in their own contexts.”
Categories: Educating Character Initiative News