Supporters

Our Program would not be possible without the generous support of individuals and organizations who demonstrate their commitment to character through time, talent, and treasure. Here are the groups and individuals who have made contributions to our Program.

Lilly Endowment Inc.

Lilly Endowment Inc. awarded Wake Forest a $30.7 million grant in 2023 to extend our Program’s work on campus and create a national higher education network devoted to educating character. Because of the success of the work and the tremendous interest from across the U.S., Lilly added an additional $12.4 million in 2024 and $30 million in 2025 to extend more opportunities to other colleges and universities. The bulk of the funding has enabled the Educating Character Initiative to award grants and provide support to institutions beyond Wake Forest that strive to create their own initiatives focused on character.

Kern Family Foundation

Over the last few years, the Kern Family Foundation has provided a grant of $8.6 million to support the integration of character development opportunities throughout the professional schools at Wake Forest University, including the School of Medicine, School of Law, and pre-professional programs in the College. Another grant of $700,000 advances the collaborative work of the Department of Engineering and the Program for Leadership and Character by supporting faculty development and course design, funding postdoctoral fellows and graduate research assistants, and providing programmatic and curricular support to broaden the scope of character education in engineering.

The Kern Family Foundation has also supported four new postdoctoral fellows in character education and supported the Program’s participation in the Kern Partners in Character Education and Leadership Network Improvement Community, which has enabled Program faculty and staff to share their research and engage other scholars and practitioners of character education.

Truist

Truist has endowed four Leadership and Character Scholarships to support talented students with significant financial need in each class. In addition, the Truist Leadership Institute has partnered with our Program to provide generous programmatic support to both our students and staff.

John Templeton Foundation

The John Templeton Foundation made a $1.68 million grant to advance research on the impact of exemplars on character formation. Led by Eranda Jayawickreme
and Michael Lamb, the three-year grant funded five international teams, including two led by Jayawickreme and Lamb at Wake Forest, that pursued interdisciplinary research on exemplars from the perspectives of education, law, literature, philosophy, psychology, theology, and the arts, with the aim of developing effective interventions to promote character. Together, the research teams have produced almost 30 publications, with more to come.

Circle of Support

The following individuals and organizations also made contributions between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024:

• Diana (’78) and Kenneth Adams
• Ran (JD ’89) and Frank Bell (P ’06 JD)
• Shelmer Blackburn (’82)
• Jean (’79, MBA ’87) and Rhodes Bobbitt
• Donna Boswell (’72, MA ’74)
• Peter and Susan Brockway (P ’09)
• Dan and Aerin Bryant (P ’21, P ’22, P ’25)
• Tom (’75) and Katherine Bunn
• Bobby Burchfield (’76)
• Jane Cage (’78)
• Cameron (’21) and Jackson (’21) Cannon
• Barry (’67) and Margaret Clendenin (P ’01, P ’04)
• Frank Crawley
• Phil and Kim Dingle (P ’23)
• Tom Dingledine (MBA ’78)
• Bob and Lynn Ducommun (P ’22)
• Serena Dugan (’94)
• David Dupree (MBA ’78) and Marijke Jurgens-Dupree (P ’20, P ’22)
• Doyle (’65, JD ’67) and Betty Early (P ’94, P ’96, GP ’28)
• Donna Edwards (’80)
• Eric (’86) and Martha (’86) Eubank (P ’15)
• Herman Eure (PHD ’74) and Kelli Sapp (MS ’93) (P ’23 MDIV)
• Libba Evans (’74, MBA ’78) and Jim Lambie (P ’91)
• F. M. Kirby Foundation
• Curt (’84, MBA ’91) and Alice Farmer (P ’16, P ’17 MSM)
• First Citizens Bank
• Don (MBA ’83) and Robbin Flow
• Vic (’52) and Roddy Flow (P ’83 MBA)
• Pam Geisinger (’65)
• Tim and Michelle Gillis
• Murray (’59, JD ’62) and Joan Greason (P ’85)
• Bill Greene (’59) and Linda Latimer
• Betty Harkey (’57, P ’85, P ’86, GP ’20, GP ’21)
• Frank and Ruth E. Holding (P ’13, P ’14 MSM, P ’18 MBA, P ’18)
• Beth Norbrey Hopkins (’73, P ’12, P ’15 MA)
• Trig and Alice Horton (P ’95, P ’98, P ’01, GP ’24, GP ’28)
• Wilson (’89) and Kate (’94) Hoyle (P ’19)
• Tom (’68) and Janie Irwin
• Dale (’78, P ’06, P ’09 PA, P ’13) and Jennie Jenkins
• Tom (’70) and Shelley (’70) Jennings
• Kathleen Jennings
• John Templeton Foundation
• Matt (’82) and Llew Ann (’83) King (P ’08, P ’12)
• Gary (’77) and Debbie (’78) Lambert (P ’13)
• Rodger and Angela Laurite (P ’21, P ’22 MSA)
• Andrew (’96) and Amanda Lawrence
• Bob and Jodi Lingan (P ’16)
• Jim and Pat Marino (P ’09, GP ’27)
• Aubrey (’80) and Andra Martin
• Jay and Jane McGraw (P ’16, P ’20)
• Claudius and Deirdre Modesti (P ’20)
• Scott and Sally Mohr (P ’17)
• Gary and Mary Pinkus (P ’20, P ’22)
• Will Pittman (P ’97, P ’00, P ’05 MBA, P ’05 JD)
• Will and Shirley Powell (P ’23)
• Mike (’68) and Bobbie Queen (P ’94, GP ’23)
• Bob (’92, JD ’95) and Amanda Ramseur (P ’23, P ’24 MSA)
• Rixey Street Foundation
• Mike (MALS ’13) and Debbie (MAED ’83, MALS ’05) Rubin
• Alex Sink (’70, P ’11)
• Ian Smith (P ’28)
• Jule (’91, MBA ’96) and Alisa Smith (P ’26)
• Mike (’89) and Mary Dee (’93) Smith (P ’21)
• Janice (’75) and Ed Story
• Ben (’80, JD ’83) and Sally Sutton (P ’14, P ’16 MSM, P ’19)
• Matthew (’14) and Sarah Teller
• Doug (’88) and Shannan (’87) Townsend (P ’15, P ’17)
• Harry and Stephanie Wagner (P ’27)
• Dave (MBA ’82) and Sue Wahrhaftig (P ’18, P ’21, P ’21)
• Bob Winslow (’77, P ’13, P ’14 MSM)
• John Winslow (’13, MSM ’14) and Jessica Strokus (’13, JD ’16)
• Eric (’77, MBA ’88, LLD ’12) and Susan (’78) Wiseman (P ’07)
• Dick and Kathy Wright (P ’10, P ’12)
• Natasha and Dirk Ziff (P ’22)