Letter from the Directors

At Wake Forest, Pro Humanitate is more than a motto — it’s a way of life. Going back to its Latin roots, it calls us to develop qualities of humanity within ourselves to serve humanity beyond ourselves.

This calling informs our work both individually and collectively. While we have continued to expand our offerings at Wake Forest and built strategic partnerships with various units — from the Schools of Law and Medicine to Campus Life and the Office of Personal and Career Development — our Program has also committed to sharing ideas and resources to equip other colleges and universities to educate leaders of character in their own contexts. The last year marks a moment of significant expansion — all with the aim of serving humanity.

Perhaps the most visible expansion is through our Educating Character Initiative. With visionary support from Lilly Endowment Inc., we have now given grants to almost 150 institutions and built a community of more than 2,000 educators who are learning from us and each other. Through 2029, our work will have an impact on 600,000 people and the institutions that serve them. All colleges and universities, including Wake Forest, benefit from a higher education landscape that prioritizes character. The Educating Character Initiative is a remarkable example of how collective action focused on a common purpose can transform both individuals and institutions.

The same spirit of service has also animated our work in the professions. Thanks to the generous support of the Kern Family Foundation, we have become a leading hub for work on leadership and character in the law, reflected most notably in our 2025 conference that brought more than 100 legal educators to Wake Forest to explore how to educate lawyers of character.

Meanwhile, we are extending our work on character in medicine, establishing the foundations to shape the third-largest nonprofit health system in the country. This impact is significant and growing as we continue to educate, equip, and invite others into this work.

At a critical time in our country, Wake Forest is leading a national movement to put character at the center of higher education, and we are excited about how we will expand this work in the next year, with plans to further embed leadership and character in the college and professionals at Wake Forest, to create a new network on leadership and character in the law, and to establish new communities of impact through the Educating Character Initiative. Thank you for joining this movement and providing the support and
partnership that makes it possible.

Gratefully,

Michael Lamb

Senior Executive Director of the Program for Leadership and Character

Cristy Guleserian

Executive Director of Leadership and Character in the College

Jennifer Rothschild

Director of the Educating Character Initiative

Kenneth Townsend

Executive Director of Leadership and Character in the Professional Schools