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Courses

Leadership and Character 2026 Spring Course Offerings

HMN 385: How to Bridge Difference: Principled Pluralism in a Polarized World

Instructor: Dr. Bradley Burroughs
When: Wednesday/Friday 2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.

In a time marked by deep political, religious, and cultural divides, learning to engage differences constructively is a pressing need. Drawing insights from a variety of disciplines—including political science, psychology, religious studies, sociology, and more—this course aims to enhance students’ understanding of such divides. At the same time, it also seeks to help students develop the skills, virtues, and perspectives to be both principled and pluralistic, appreciating others’ views without abandoning one’s own principles. Through readings, discussions, and practical exercises, students will reflect on the real-world challenges that society currently confronts and explore what it means to live with integrity, empathy, and curiosity in the midst of deep disagreement.

FYS 100: AI & Humanity: Foundations for Our Future

Instructor: Dr. William B. Cochran
When: Monday/Wednesday/Friday 10:00 a.m. – 10:50 a.m. 

This first-year seminar explores the nature of artificial intelligence and its implications for the future of humanity. How should we live and work with AI? Can we contain its risks while harnessing its opportunities? Does AI augment or degrade human capabilities? What kind of society are we creating with AI, and what will it take to thrive in an AI-infused world? In this seminar, participants will practice carefully engaging with multiple perspectives on AI—from the technologists building it, the entrepreneurs deploying it, the philosophers analyzing it, the users interacting with it, and even from the AI systems themselves. By the end, participants should have a strong foundation for navigating our current AI moment and the changes that lie ahead. No coding experience is required—just curiosity, skepticism, and the courage to rethink the future.

CSC 391: Ethical Computer Science

Instructor: Dr. William B. Cochran
When: Monday/Wednesday 2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. 

In an era where AI and other emerging technologies increasingly shape human experience, what can be done to ensure that computing technologies preserve and promote human flourishing? This course contends that the answer begins with cultivating computer scientists’ moral skill set. Through personal reflection, Socratic dialogue, and engagement with real-world case studies, this course aims to empower students to navigate complex ethical issues in the development and deployment of computing technologies. By interweaving theory and practice, the course prompts students to develop greater awareness of the wider impacts of their work, cultivate virtues of character that are both personally and professionally relevant, and become skillful communicators. As they progress, students will be encouraged to envision themselves not just as competent technicians, but as ethical leaders in a rapidly evolving technosocial landscape.

HMN 374: Humanities and Law 

Instructor: Dr. Bryan Ellrod
When: Monday/Wednesday/Friday 10:00 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.

A system of law is more than a tool for providing civil remedies and criminal penalties. It is one of the languages by which we articulate our identities and grapple with our shared humanity. However, legal language does not exist in isolation. It intersects with the diversity of languages that circulate in religious scriptures, philosophical texts, and works of literature. In this interdisciplinary seminar, we will attend to these points of intersection. As we attend to questions of justice, meaning, and the law’s impact on lived experience, we will also examine the relationship between the shape of our legal systems and the shape of our moral character. More than this, we will seek to cultivate the excellences of character that would make this connection a cause for individual and collective flourishing rather than alienation.

ENT 314 A&B : Leadership and Character in Entrepreneurship

Instructor: Dr. Fatima Hamdulay
When: Wednesday/Friday 11:00 – 12:15 p.m. & 2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.

Leadership and character challenges go hand-in-hand with the entrepreneurial journey. In this course, we ask three questions as we traverse the entrepreneur’s path: What are the ways I see the world? How do they shape my views on character, opportunity and value creation? How will I lead the way?

ENT 304 A&B : Building Entrepreneurial Teams

Instructor: Dr. Fatima Hamdulay
When: Tuesday/Thursday 11:00 – 12:15 p.m. & 2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.

Behind every bold idea lies a team that makes it real. Building Entrepreneurial Teams explores how self-awareness, open-mindedness, and honesty can foster collaboration that develops into innovation. We combine hands-on experiences and reflection to engage the dynamics that make or break entrepreneurial ventures – balancing urgency with purpose, collaboration with assertiveness, and harmony with productive conflict. Grounded in a learn-by-doing live venture and character-centered approach, the course challenges you to design, lead, and participate in a high-performing team that learns quickly, adapts wisely, and creates lasting, values-driven impact.

AAS 100: Introduction to African American Studies

Instructor: Dr. Dan Henry 
When: Monday/Wednesday/Friday 1:00 p.m. – 1:50 p.m.

This course offers a broad introduction to the history, methods, and guiding concepts of Black Studies. More than an “interdisciplinary” field, Black Studies is shaped both by a critical engagement with traditional disciplines as well as concerns and approaches that exceed their purview. Students will gain an understanding of the relationship of Black Studies to the university, here at Wake Forest and elsewhere; the field’s orientation to Black communities; and the distinctive meanings of Black “study.” It will also offer an overview of central subjects in the field, from aesthetics to politics to history, guided by important voices across traditions of Black thought and politics. Students in this course will learn the fundamentals of research and writing in Black Studies, culminating in an original project. Finally, the course is an introduction to the community of AAS at Wake Forest.

AAS 210: African American Intellectual Tradition

Instructor: Dr. Dan Henry 
When: Wednesday/Friday 9:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.

This course offers a broad overview of key historical questions and currents in African American politics and philosophy, and their relevance for contemporary Black Studies.  The class offers a wide-ranging survey of multiple African American intellectual traditions–as well as a close study of select thinkers from each tradition–including Black feminism, Black radical thought, political, cultural, and economic nationalisms, and Black liberation theology. We will consider the tools and overarching ethos each of these traditions offers students today, and how they might shape the meaning of “study” here at Wake Forest.

AAS 320: Philosophy and Race

Instructor: Dr. Dan Henry 
When: Wednesday/Friday 2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.

This course centers on themes of African American moral thought, with a focus on the expansive efforts of Black prophetic intellectuals and social movements to engage, in Stephen Marshall’s words, the City on the Hill “from below.” These thinkers, past and present, have at once indicted the warped morality and corrupted ideals of a racist society and sought to rethink the ethical bases of collective life (of the Black public and of multiracial democracy) and the political, moral, and aesthetic ideals that could animate its future. Students in this class will gain an introduction to some of the important currents and figures of African American moral philosophy, including discussions of David Walker, Maria Stewart, Frederick Douglass, Anna Julia Cooper, and James Baldwin. Study of these traditions offers students critical resources for interrogating contemporary dilemmas of American democratic life and its horizons.

HMN 211 A & B Dialogues with Antiquity-The Good Life in Eastern and Western Perspectives 

Instructor: Dr. Eunice Jianping Hu
When: Wednesday/Friday 2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. (A) & 3:30 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. (B)

What does it mean for human beings to be “good”? How can we live a “good” life?  This course considers some of the most influential answers to such questions, beginning with the thought of Confucius and Aristotle, towering figures in Eastern and Western traditions, respectively. In addition to studying the writings of these major figures in comparative perspective, our course will examine visual art, short stories, and other forms to trace the influence of Confucius and Aristotle in contemporary societies, to analyze our own presuppositions, and to reflect upon how we might live well in our current age.

FYS 100: Harming and Harmonizing: Considering Human Relations to Nature Through Everyday Ecology

Instructor: Dr. Eunice Jianping Hu
When: Wednesday/Friday 12:30 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.

What is our role as human beings in the world? How can we live more harmoniously with animals, plants, and the environment? In this course, we will explore these big questions through literature, film, art, history, and philosophy. Together, we will examine how our values and beliefs shape our relationship with nature and how these ideas influence our everyday choices and actions. Focusing on four fundamental human practices, i.e., eating, clothing, housing, and traveling, we will explore how these daily activities reflect our relationship with the environment and reveal deeper cultural, social, and philosophical values. As we study environmental issues and movements, you will encounter powerful stories, artworks, and ideas from poems and novels to documentaries and philosophical writings, which are drawn from a wide range of cultural and intellectual traditions. This course also invites you to cultivate personal virtues: wonder at the natural world, temperance in how you consume resources, empathy for all living beings, and gratitude for the environment that sustains us, as you grow into a thoughtful and responsible leader in today’s complex world.

Plus a Special Short-Term Study Abroad Opportunity!


PSY 270 / POL 242 / REL 291 / HMN 385 (1.5 credit hours)

Instructor: Dr. Eranda Jayawickreme
When: Once weekly 75-minute from March 15 onward and May 16–29 trip to Sri Lanka

This course will explore the nature of pluralism from an interdisciplinary perspective—the ability to engage constructively across differences. We’ll examine what character traits, thinking patterns, and social conditions help people develop tolerance and build meaningful relationships with those from different backgrounds. We’ll read material from political & moral philosophy, social/personality & political psychology, political science (with a focus on recent work examining transitional justice in the post-war context) and religious studies. The study abroad portion will begin in Colombo, the vibrant capital city whose metropolitan area population exceeds 5 million, where students will have opportunities to meet with leaders working toward inter-group tolerance and fostering pluralism. The group will then travel to the northern and eastern regions of the country—the center of the long-running civil war from 1983 to 2009 between the Sri Lankan Army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam—to visit with more civil society leaders and academics. The trip will culminate with two days traveling to and climbing Adam’s Peak, a 7359-ft. mountain that serves as the source of three major rivers and the site of a wildlife reserve. The peak of the mountain is a religious site of significance to Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and some Christians as it arguably exhibits the footprint of Buddha, Shiva, Adam, or St. Thomas respectively. Adam’s Peak is a site of pilgrimage and devotion, and the climb, often undertaken at night to witness the sunrise, is seen as both a physical and spiritual challenge. 

Previous Courses Taught By L&C Faculty and Staff

  • Click here to see a list of the 2023 fall courses taught by Leadership and Character-affiliated faculty and staff.
  • Click here to see a list of the 2024 spring courses taught by Leadership and Character-affiliated faculty and staff.
  • Click here to see a list of the 2024 fall courses taught by Leadership and Character-affiliated faculty and staff.
  • Click here to see a list of the 2025 spring courses taught by Leadership and Character-affiliated faculty and staff.
  • Click here to see a list of the 2025 fall courses taught by Leadership and Character-affiliated faculty and staff.

Commencing Character: How Should We Live?

Wake Forest’s motto, Pro Humanitate (“for humanity”), calls us to cultivate the qualities of character needed to serve humanity. This course explores how we can fulfill this vision by considering fundamental questions of human existence: What is a good life? Which values and virtues are needed to flourish as individuals and communities, and which practices enable us to cultivate these values and virtues? How do we educate others and ourselves to live virtuously? To examine these questions, the course pairs Aristotle’s ancient ethics with contemporary commencement speeches and integrates pedagogical exercises designed to cultivate virtue. The course culminates with students delivering their own commencement addresses on their vision of a good life.

“Some days I feel like a fool for caring about something other than preparing myself for a safe career. But I am fully convinced that conversation and practical action on virtue, character and higher goods are some of the highest forms of human activity.”

Student in a Leadership and Character Discussion Group

Christianity, Character, and Public Life

How can Christians today promote the flourishing of public life? Although contemporary public institutions generally seek to avoid questions of character, Christianity has developed a rich tradition of theological reflection and social activism that has routinely identified a crucial connection between the two, suggesting that the flourishing of personal character and public life are intertwined. Focusing upon the writings of prominent theologians and the leaders of influential social movements, this course explores this connection. With particular attention to the public roles of government and church, as well as the realities of religious pluralism, we ask how Christian leaders and Christians more generally might help to foster the flourishing of both individuals and the public in which they live.

How to Keep a Republic

At the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention, when asked whether the new government of the United States was a monarchy or a republic, Benjamin Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” What is a republic, and how do we keep it? How do we preserve liberty and justice for all against threats of domination? What role should checks and balances and the rule of law play in our political system? Which virtues are required for political leaders and citizens, and how can citizens hold their leaders accountable? Beginning with ancient Rome and concluding with contemporary America, students learn how to develop the virtues, practices and institutions needed to keep our republic.

Issues and Trends in Education: Hip-Hop Pedagogy, Poetics, and Remixes for Higher Education

This course is an exploration in hip-hop – its origins, its possibilities, and implications for higher and postsecondary education. In addition, this course provides students a space to understand Critical Hip-Hop Pedagogy, and its role in critiquing and radically reimagining institutions that reduce inequality (e.g. schools/colleges and universities, churches, criminal justice system, etc.). Together, we will use hip-hop, poetry, and storytelling as a vehicle for negotiating the politics of place and space, and how hip-hop culture influences teaching, learning, and near-peer mentorship. Using hip-hop as a lens to view our experiences at Wake Forest and beyond, invites us to be vulnerable and honest, while feeling supported in a collective process of meaning-making. We hope to develop a community of artists committed to – and consistently engaged in – the work of social justice education. In doing so, students will learn the ways in which hip-hop – it’s poetic and aesthetic traditions – resist traditional forms of teaching and learning, while strengthening competencies that promote collective academic success.

Leadership and Adversity

What are the skills, habits, and virtues of lawyers who lead others through adversity? This course in the School of Law answers this question by engaging seminal texts on leadership and conducting a series of interviews with lawyers who have led in varied professional contexts. These exemplars highlight numerous pathways into principled legal leadership.

Leadership and Character in the Professions

This course in the School of Law introduces students to classic and contemporary texts on ethical leadership in order to analyze the responsibilities of lawyers and other professionals and to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and virtues needed to lead with integrity.

Professional and Leadership Skills

How can a values-driven professional do good work within a morally flawed organization? This question matters because most organizations are thoroughly mixed bags with regard to environmental sustainability and social responsibility. Even the best organizations have room for growth. This course enables young professionals to acquire the insights, skills, and virtues needed to lead teams and organizations toward more humane and sustainable outcomes.

Previous Courses Taught by L&C Postdoctoral Fellows

Character and the Good Life: Negotiating Questions of Race, Class and Gender

This course in the School of Divinity introduces students to basic philosophical and theological concepts of virtue and character; explores how various structures, including those related to race, class, and gender, shape moral formation; and provides pedagogical exercises for students to reflect on their own formation and develop virtues they need to lead in their vocational roles.

Character and Medicine

This course will address various topics in medical ethics including patient autonomy, physician-assisted suicide, care for the elderly, disability, and mental illness. The general objective is to encourage the student to evaluate ethical issues from the perspectives of various stakeholders in these cases. On a more spiritual level, my hope is that this course will encourage students to think critically about shared human vulnerability as well as their own morality.  The overall goal is to develop students’ character so that will eventually come to view themselves as autonomous agents in medical systems.

The Character of Entrepreneurship

This course explores how students can fulfill this mission within the context of entrepreneurship by intentionally developing virtues of character not to lead for self alone, but for humanity. It explores two central questions: what are virtuous character traits that align with the entrepreneurial mindset, and how can they be cultivated? Through readings, dialogue, and experiential learning, students learn to reflect on personal experiences of leadership and entrepreneurship, develop important habits of character, infuse virtues into the DNA of an organization, and identify virtuous exemplars who serve as entrepreneurial role models.

Entrepreneurial Leadership

This course is designed for students who want to develop leadership skills and virtues of character that differentiate great entrepreneurs.  Students will investigate leadership theories, examine leadership styles, discover the core qualities that cultivate an entrepreneurial leader’s role in driving innovation and growth, develop judgement for when to use hard versus soft skills, learn to build a culture of virtuous leadership across ventures, and create high performing teams with shared purpose/values/vision.

Ethical Leadership in Computer Science

The shape of our future depends on the character and leadership of the people who work in Computer Science. This course aims to help students develop the knowledge, skills, and virtues of character required to become ethical leaders in their field.

Grant-Supported Courses

With support from the Lilly Endowment, the Program has provided course development and redesign grants to faculty annually since 2020. During each three-day workshop and follow-up one-on-one sessions, participating faculty worked closely with Program staff to craft new courses or modules targeting leadership and character learning outcomes.

The following faculty participated in the Summer 2022 Course Development Workshop and received grants to design new courses that were taught in 2022 or are planned for a future semester:

“Writing Seminar: “Advice Please?: Using Rhetoric to Navigate Advice Genres,” Danielle Koupf, English

  • This course explores how learning about rhetorical concepts, such as credibility, authority, ethos, audience, and genre, can help students evaluate many forms of advice, including written and spoken advice, so that they can be thoughtful, critical, and responsible advice-givers and recipients.

“What Are Friends For?,” Marianne Erhardt, English

  • This course offers students a space to write their way through an inquiry of friendship by engaging with a variety of friendship ideas and ideals––from the personal to the political; the mythological to the philosophical––as a means for developing and practicing rhetorical awareness, respectful critical engagement, and creative meaningful collaboration and a space to befriend writing and one another.

“Black Religious Leadership & Voices of Protest,” Derek Hicks, School of Divinity

  • This course charts the theo-intellectual history of African American leaders from the antebellum period to the close of the Civil Rights era and explores what students can learn about leadership and character from an examination of this history. 

“20th Century European Philosophy,” Francisco Gallegos, Philosophy

  • This course examines the work of significant figures in 20th century European philosophy, including Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, Herbert Marcuse, and Michel Foucault, to explore issues such as the cultural decadence of technological modernity, the nature of power, and the challenges of multiculturalism. 

“How to be a Con-artist: Stories of Fraud, Entrepreneurship, and the Social Imagination,” Rebecca Gill, Communication and Entrepreneurship

  • This course unpacks stories of historical and contemporary con-artists to explore how con-artistry capitalizes on the American Dream myth, the “Silicon Valley story”, and other stories that capture and draw from our collective social imagination to equip students to recognize con-artists and avoid becoming them. 

“Virtue, Character, and Bioethics,” Nicholas Colgrove, Philosophy

  • This course examines (a) different accounts of particular virtues (e.g., honesty, humility) and (b) ways in which particular virtues might guide deliberation and action in bioethical contexts, clinical ethics, and clinical practice.

“Memorial Contentions,” Lisa Blee, History

  • The new First Year Seminar focuses on controversies over historical monuments and memorials. Students document and evaluate campus memorials, collectively develop guiding principles for just and inclusive memorialization practices, and propose a new campus memorial or critical campus history tour that reflects their collectively-established criteria. 

“MAPS1: Medicine and Patients in Society,” Roy Strowd, School of Medicine

  • Medicine and Patients in Society (MAPS) is a course for first- and second-year medical students that is completed during the first 18 months of medical school. MAPS focuses on three broad areas: (1) personal character development, (2) professional conduct in clinical practice, and (3) leader identity. MAPS is a broad and basic overview of clinical scenarios that pose ethical, social, and professional dilemmas for healthcare professionals. Students apply ethical principles to clinical practice and professional development and build the foundation for their personal and professional development as a future physician.

“Sustainable Corporations,” Alan Palmiter and Kyle Densinger, School of Law and ZSR Library

  • This course is a multidisciplinary search for the elusive “sustainable corporation” – thus, a journey into and through modernity, humanity, and ourselves. 

“Sacred Arts of African Muslims,” Kimberly Wortmann, Religions

  • This course considers how various arts and aesthetic practices, such as material objects, writing, recitation, architecture, poetry, music and the esoteric sciences of the unseen such as magic and occult practices, inform African Muslim spiritualities and practices.

“Leading in Serving Patients with Limited English Proficiency,” Chaowei Zhu, Interpreting and Translation Studies, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences

  • This course aims to revisit the healthcare interpreting profession in the USA and explore how to expand staff healthcare interpreters’ roles from conventional interpreting (the interpreter role) to include two new leadership roles, namely 1) to assist patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) in navigating the US healthcare system (the navigator role) and 2) to empower LEP patients in their healthcare journey (the empowerer role).

The following faculty participated in the Summer 2022 Course Development Workshop and received grants to design new modules that were taught in 2022 or are planned for a future semester:

“Spanish for the Health Professions,” Carmen Pérez-Muñoz, Spanish

  • This interdisciplinary course covers scientific, cultural, and linguistic aspects within the topic of health care for Hispanics/Latinx in the U.S.

“Democratic Theory,” Michaelle Browers, Politics and International Affairs

  • This course examines the theoretical underpinnings of democracy and some of the critiques of those foundations, focusing on understanding some of the major theories of democracy and on how key democratic concepts are defined differently within these various traditions.

“Clinical Special Elective,” Tiffany Shin, School of Medicine

  • This course is a 4-week clinical experience completed during the fourth year of medical school that enables students in the MAESTRO Program to advance their knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes related to medical Spanish in clinical practice by working with Spanish-speaking patients in the local community. 

“Latinx Politics,” Betina Cutaia Wilkinson, Politics and International Affairs

  • This course examines the contemporary role of Latinxs as a minority group in the U.S. with emphasis on the history of Latinx immigration to the U.S. and to North Carolina, immigration and education policies, Latinx representation, political identity, political participation, and interracial coalition formations. 

“Philosophy of Love and Friendship,” Stavroula Glezakos, Philosophy

  • This course offers a philosophical investigation into the nature, requirements, perils, and rewards of love and friendship.

“Ethics of Restitution,” Andrew Gurstelle, Anthropology

  • This course examines methods of conducting anthropological research in museums and provides an overview of the historical development of anthropology in museums and their current relationships to anthropological theory, practice, and ethics.

“Intellectual Property Law Clinic I,” Zaneta Robinson, School of Law

  • This course provides students with opportunities to apply legal theory to real clients such as individual entrepreneurs, small businesses, and nonprofits with interests in clearance, protection, and management of copyright, trademark, and related intellectual property rights.

Previous courses integrating leadership and character include: 

  • “Ethical and Social Issues in Natural Language Processing,” Natalia Khuri, Computer Science
  • “Sudden Bursts of Feeling! The Power of Emotion in Sentimental Literature,” Adrian Greene, English
  • “Leading the Race: Lessons in Leadership from Black Men’s Novels of Escape,” Erica Still, English
  • “Memory, Monuments, and Reparations in Post-War Germany: What Can We Learn?,” Rebecca S. Thomas, German and Russian
  • “U.S. Environmental History,” Lisa Blee, History
  • “Homesick: Past and Future Homes in the Literary-Historical Imagination,” Rian Bowie, English, and Mir Yarfitz, History
  • “Philosophy as a Way of Life,” Emily Austin, Philosophy
  • “Humanitarian Action in a Political World,” Sarah Lischer, Politics and International Affairs
  • “Multimedia Translation,” Xijinyan Chen, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
  • “Religion and Environmental Justice in Latin America,” Elizabeth Gandolfo, School of Divinity
  • “The Wisdom Literature:Virtue, Integrity, and Equity,” Neal Walls, School of Divinity
  • “Divinity School Internship Orientation,” John Senior, School of Divinity
  • “Practical Wisdom and the Law: Cultivating Dispositions and Abilities to Do the Right Thing Well,” Harold Lloyd, School of Law
  • “Criminal Law,” Alyse Bertenthal, School of Law
  • “Women, Law, Leadership, and Character,” Abigail Perdue, School of Law
  • “Criminal Procedure,” “Innocence and Justice Clinic,” and “Contemplative Practices and the Law,” Mark Rabil, School of Law
  • “LAUNCH Certificate Program,” Marcia Wofford, School of Medicine 

New modules on leadership and character have been integrated into these existing courses: 

  • “Quantitative Asset Pricing,” Dr. Jane Ryngaert, Economics
  • “Fourth-year Chinese,” Dr. Lu Lu, East Asian Languages and Culture
  • “Statistical Learning,” Dr. Lucy D’Agostino McGowan, Mathematics and Statistics
  • “Introduction to Bioethics,” Dr. Ana Iltis, Philosophy
  • “Introduction to Political Theory,” Dr. Andrius Galisanka, Politics and International Affairs
  • “Organizational Psychology,” Dr. Lara Kammrath, Psychology
  • “Who Am I? A Sociocultural Approach to Self and Identity Development,” Dr. Lisa Kiang, Psychology
  • “Managing People and Organizations,” Sherry Moss, School of Business
  • “Data Analysis and Business Modeling,” Christopher Smith, School of Business 
  • “Leadership and Ethics,” Dr. Sean Hannah, School of Business
  • “Innocence and Justice Clinic,” Mark Rabil, School of Law
  • “Essential Business Concepts,” Chris Meazell, School of Law
  • “Race, Social Science, and the Law,” Jonathan Cardi, School of Law