Team

Michael Lamb is the Executive Director of the Program for Leadership and Character and Assistant Professor of Politics, Ethics, and Interdisciplinary Humanities. He is also a Research Fellow for the Oxford Character Project. He earned a B.A. in political science from Rhodes College, a Ph.D. in politics from Princeton University, and a second B.A. in philosophy and theology from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. His interdisciplinary research focuses on moral education, the ethics of citizenship, and the role of virtues in public life. He is the co-editor of Everyday Ethics: Moral Theology and the Practices of Ordinary Life, and his work has been published in a number of edited volumes and academic journals, including the American Political Science Review, Review of Politics, Augustinian Studies, and Journal of Religious Ethics. A political theorist with experience in practical politics, he has advised colleges on character education and civic engagement, co-founded a non-profit that supports sustainable development in Uganda, and served as chief of staff for campaigns for state senate, Governor, and U.S. Congress in his home state of Tennessee. Prior to joining Wake Forest, he helped to launch the Oxford Character Project and served as Dean of Leadership, Service, and Character Development for Rhodes Scholars. A recipient of teaching awards from Princeton and Oxford, he teaches “How to Keep a Republic” and “Commencing Character: How Should We Live?” and directs programs to develop leaders of character at Wake Forest.

Kenneth Townsend is the Director of Leadership and Character for the Professional Schools and Scholar-in-Residence at the Wake Forest School of Law. A recipient of the Truman Scholarship for Public Service and the Rhodes Scholarship, he earned a B.A. from Millsaps College, an M.Phil. from the University of Oxford, and a J.D. and M.A.R. from Yale University. Prior to joining Wake Forest, he worked at Millsaps College as Special Assistant to the President, Assistant Professor of Political Science, and Founding Executive Director of the Institute for Professional and Civic Engagement and, before Millsaps, as a Fellow in the University of Mississippi’s Barksdale Honors College and Lott Leadership Institute. A licensed attorney and frequent commentator on public affairs, he has taught courses in ethics, political theory, public policy, and constitutional law at Millsaps College, University of Mississippi, and Yale University.  He teaches “Professional Responsibility” and “Leadership and Character in the Professions” at the Wake Forest School of Law. His research focuses on the relationship between law and morality, the role of religion in a democracy, and the ethical obligations of professionals.

Dr. Elise Murray Dykhuis is the Senior Research Scholar in the Program for Leadership and Character. She received her B.A. in Psychology and German Language/Literature at the University of Notre Dame and earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Child Study and Human Development at Tufts University. Her research focuses broadly on individual pathways for character development among college students, and she spent much of her doctoral studies examining the aspects of person-centric, longitudinal models of intellectual humility among United States Military Academy cadets. She has a particular interest in using complex statistical modeling to examine these pathways and further honed these skills as a junior fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. She has published on the topic of character in college in peer-reviewed journals such as Journal of Positive Psychology and the Journal of Moral Education. Her work integrates the concept of character virtues with developmental theory and metatheory, on which she has written and presented in various forums. Dr. Dykhuis has also served as a statistical and survey-design consultant for various character-related projects and organizations. She strongly believes that college students are uniquely situated for immense character growth given their social, emotional, intellectual, and identity development, integrated with the vast opportunities presented by post-secondary education. As such, she sees the Program as a facilitator for life-long flourishing among future leaders of character and is excited to be part of that effort.

Dr. Eranda Jayawickreme is Senior Research Fellow in the Program for Leadership and Character and Associate Professor of Psychology at Wake Forest University. He earned a B.A. from Franklin and Marshall College and a Ph.D. in positive and social/personality psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. Alongside Dr. Michael Lamb, he is a Co-Project Leader of a $1.68 million initiative on “Exemplar Interventions to Develop Character” funded by the John Templeton Foundation. He is also Psychology Co-Director of “The Honesty Project” and was Co-Project Leader of the $3.4 million “Pathways to Character Project” funded by the John Templeton Foundation that examined the possibilities for the strengthening of character following adversity, challenge or failure. His research focuses on post-traumatic growth, moral personality, wisdom, and well-being. His awards include the 2018 Faculty Excellence in Research Award from Wake Forest, the 2015 Rising Star award from the Association for Psychological Science, a Mellon Refugee Initiative Fund Fellowship, and grants from the John Templeton Foundation, Templeton Religion Trust, Templeton World Charity Foundation, the European Association for Personality Psychology and the Asia Foundation/USAID.

Ann Phelps is the Director of Programming for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University. She earned a B.A. from Hastings College and an M.A.R. from Yale University where she studied the intersection of religion, the arts, and modern culture. Most of her research is conducted outside of the library, where she works as a musician and teacher with colleges, universities, and religious communities to envision how corporate rituals and collective creativity can empower us to be more ethical actors in our changing world. She serves as cantor, liturgical coordinator, and writer for the Theodicy Jazz Collective, an ensemble that has provided music leadership and reflection in communities such as Yale University, Cambridge University, Canterbury Cathedral, Washington National Cathedral, and churches from Los Angeles to London and Massachusetts to Mississippi. As the former Director of the 1 Campus 1 Community Office of Community Engagement and Interim Director of Religious Life at Millsaps College, she has taught courses on community engagement and vocational discernment.

Dr. Christopher T. Copeland serves as the founder and director of the Enneagram Studies Project at Wake Forest University. For seven years, he served on the faculty of Wake Forest University School of Divinity teaching in the area of spirituality and leadership development. Dr. Copeland studied at Wake Forest University, Emory’s Candler School of Theology and Law School, and San Francisco Theological Seminary earning degrees in mathematics, theology, law, and spirituality. Having studied the Enneagram for more than 25 years, Dr. Copeland is a certified teacher and member of the Core Faculty for The Narrative Enneagram, the oldest Enneagram training organization in the world. Chris works with individuals, groups, and organizations consulting and teaching about the Enneagram as a tool for cultivating self-awareness, growing compassion, nurturing leadership skills, and forming character. Chris is the co-creator and co-author of Heart of the Enneagram, a podcast and companion book to help people take a deeper dive into the transformative power of the Enneagram.

Bradley Burroughs is Assistant Director of Leadership and Character in Religious Life. He received a B.A. from Allegheny College, an M.Div. from Duke University Divinity School, and a Ph.D. from the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University. His academic work integrates theological ethics, modern social theory, contemporary theories of virtue, and positive psychology to explore the role and development of character in contemporary life. He is the author of Christianity, Politics, and the Predicament of Evil: A Constructive Theological Ethic of Soulcraft and Statecraft, as well as articles that have appeared in The Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, The Journal of Lutheran Ethics, Christian Century, and elsewhere. Prior to joining Wake Forest, he taught at Allegheny College, United Theological Seminary, and the Graduate Theological Union, where he held a joint appointment at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and the Church Divinity School of the Pacific. In addition to teaching courses in ethics, theology, and formation, he also has experience in broad-based community organizing.

Elizabeth Whiting Pierce is Assistant Director for Leadership and Character in the Professional Schools. She earned a B.S. from Trevecca Nazarene University, an M.Div. from Vanderbilt University, and a Ph.D. in Religion from Emory University, concentrating in Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding. Before joining the Leadership and Character Program at Wake Forest University, Dr. Pierce directed the Center for Ethics and taught philosophy courses at Mars Hill University. Those courses include “Democratic Legitimacy,” “Environmental Ethics,” and “Business Ethics.” A primary goal of her research and teaching is equipping leaders to constructively engage conflicts arising in their professional settings and in society at large.

Raven Scott is the Assistant Director of Programming for Leadership and Character in the College at Wake Forest University. She earned a B.A. in Anthropology/Sociology and a minor in the Lilly-affiliated Faith & Work Initiative from Millsaps College while also earning accolades as a volleyball player on the Millsaps College varsity team. She also holds an M.A. in curriculum and instruction from the University of Mississippi. Raven has spent her career educating in a variety of settings, from teaching high school in Jackson, Mississippi, to teaching English in Madrid, Spain, to working with a sports leadership non-profit, Strive: How You Lead Matters. With Strive, Raven developed and facilitated leadership workshops for hundreds of students and adults across the country from a variety of backgrounds. Most recently, she directed a volleyball club for over 150 girls in Jackson, while also running her own program combining volleyball and leadership development. Raven is excited to share her expertise in leadership development and passion for everyday leadership and athletics with undergraduate students with the Program for Leadership and Character. 

Kathleen Stimely has a decade of experience in managing character-research related grants in psychology and philosophy. Kathleen worked as both Program Coordinator and Program Manager for the Character Project at Wake Forest from 2010 to 2015, as the Program Manager for the Beacon Project from 2015 to 2018, and as the Program Manager for the Honesty Project from 2018 to 2020. Kathleen now serves as Program Manager for the Program for Leadership & Character. Kathleen has a B.A. in psychology from Francis Marion University and a M.H.R. from the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina.

Dylan Brown is the Research Fellow for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University. He graduated from Wake Forest in May 2020 with a B.A. in Philosophy. He previously worked as an undergraduate research assistant for Leadership and Character and the Department of Engineering. During his junior year, Dylan was a visiting student at the University of Oxford where he focused on normative and applied ethics. Dylan’s undergraduate research in virtue and character culminated in his honors thesis, “Forgiveness and Pardon: Normative Powers to Mitigate Interpersonal Wrongdoing and Self-Harm.” Dylan is grateful to be working for the program that sparked his research interests and developed him personally during his time as a student.

Hannah Lafferrandre is the Fellow for Leadership and Character. A recent Wake Forest graduate, she studied English, entrepreneurship, and creative writing. She was active in religious life at Wake Forest and was engaged in the Winston-Salem community as a volunteer for four years at Reagan High School. She also edited the first edition of a journal of undergraduate student essays, Writing Moves, which combined student writing, faculty notes, and her own annotations. Additionally, Hannah was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority for four years. After college, she worked at Harmony Ridge Farms in Tobaccoville, North Carolina, learning about organic agriculture and environmental sustainability. Soon after, she walked El Camino de Santiago in northern Spain, drawn to its ancient significance and the value of walking in the contemplative practice. Hannah loves serving the university that offered her mentors and ample space to consider her own path, and hopes to connect current students to the Program in meaningful ways.

Desirae’ Starnes is the Administrative Assistant for the Program for Leadership and Character. She graduated from Wake Forest in May 2019 with a B.A. in Sociology. While at Wake Forest, she enjoyed working in Residence Life and Housing, volunteering, and being immersed in the dance community on and off campus. After college, she worked in the nonprofit sector in Winston-Salem, where she engaged in meaningful community work. Desirae’ is grateful to be back at Wake Forest University and looks forward to assisting with the purposeful work of the program.

Donovan Livingston is an award-winning educator, hip-hop artist, spoken word poet, and public speaker. In 2016, his Harvard Graduate School of Education convocation address Lift Off went viral, reaching over thirteen million views. His convocation address was published as a book in 2017. He earned his B.A. in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an M.A. from Teachers College at Columbia University in Higher and Postsecondary Education, and an Ed.M. in Learning & Teaching from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in Educational Leadership & Cultural Foundations at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His research explores the ways in which college students use hip-hop – more specifically, its lyrical and poetic aesthetics – to construct meaning, negotiate (often contested) identities, navigate campus life, create community, and develop a sense of critical consciousness. For 10 years, Livingston has served first-generation, low-income, and historically underrepresented students in higher education and their families in various college-college access organizations including the College Advising Corps (UNC-Chapel Hill, New York University), federally funded TRiO programs (Upward Bound and Student Support Services), and non-profit organizations (Student U, The Emily K Center). Recently, he helped expand the College LAUNCH for Leadership Program at Wake Forest University, a college-and-career readiness program aimed at helping students discover their potential for leadership and passion for social change; prepare students to embark on the college application process; and impact their communities through Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR). Livingston continues his work at Wake Forest today as the Assistant Dean in the Office of University Collaborations and a Staff Affiliate of the Program for Leadership and Character.

Sydney Feinglass is the Special Projects Assistant in the Office of the President and a Staff Affiliate of the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University. She has worked with campus partners on planning and execution of various university-wide initiatives, including the President’s Commission on the First-Year Experience and the Arts of Leading Conference. She earned a B.A. in economics with minors in philosophy and French from Wake Forest, where she studied as a Gordon Scholar. She joined the President’s Office as the Fellow for the 2017-2018 academic year. She currently works with the Program for Leadership and Character on strategic communications and program planning.

Caroline Christoff is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Program for Leadership and Character and Interdisciplinary Studies Program. She received her Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin in 2019. Before coming to Wake Forest, Dr. Christoff worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, where she taught courses in ethical theory and medicine. Her research applies methodologies from care ethics, epistemology, and social philosophy to theorize about educational pedagogy and disability. Her paper, “Beyond Providing Accommodations: How to be an Effective Instructor and Ally to Students with Learning Disabilities,” has been used as model for improving accessibility for students with disabilities at several universities.  Dr. Christoff has also given several lectures on epistemic inequalities in healthcare settings. Through conversations with healthcare workers, she has worked to change policies in assisted living faculties in order to grant patients greater autonomy of their treatment. Her goal with her teaching and research is to create greater compassion and parity both inside and outside academia.

Kerri Cissna is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Entrepreneurship with the Program for Leadership and Character. She earned a B.A. in religion from Warner Pacific University, an M.Ed in college student affairs from Azusa Pacific University, and a Ph.D. in global leadership and change from Pepperdine University where she also taught courses in “Leadership and Communication,” “Research Methods,” and “Leading the Philanthropic Enterprise.”  Her research focuses on women in leadership and the intersection of inclusive leadership and workplace spirituality.  She formerly served as Executive Director of Leadership Long Beach and as Assistant Vice-Chancellor, Director of Housing and Residence Life, and the Leadership Development Coordinator at Pepperdine University. As an entrepreneur, Kerri founded Inspired Life Consulting and co-founded Inspired Life Film Productions. As an intrapreneur at Pepperdine, she launched Project LEAD (an alternative spring break program), the graduate assistantship program in Student Affairs, the Lifelong Learning Lecture Series for women, and Circle K service club, and she was a co-founding member of the sophomore experience task force, the center for women in leadership, and the digital women’s project (focused on research on women in leadership and work-family integration). In her free time, she is committed to nonprofits that empower women and children.

William Cochran is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Program for Leadership and Character and Department of Computer Science. He earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Northwestern University in 2020. He holds an M.A. in Classics from Dalhousie University and a B.A. in Classics from the University of King’s College. While at Northwestern, he was a Graduate Fellow and Mentor in the Brady Scholars Program for Ethics and Civic Life. He has taught at Northwestern University, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Saint Mary’s University, Halifax. A primary goal of his research is to recover from ancient philosophical texts viable directions in moral education. His dissertation examined Aristotle’s notion of teaching and its role in his theory of moral education. His interests converge on the intersection of Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, virtue ethics, the philosophy of education, and the ethics of emerging technologies.

Dr. Sara Etz Mendonça is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Program for Leadership and Character and in the Department of Psychology. She earned a B.A. in Romance languages and literature from the University of Chicago, an M.Ed. from the University of Illinois, and a Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.  Her research focuses on the development of character and virtues in youth and the creation of effective character interventions.  Her work has been published in edited volumes such as Developing Gratitude in Children and Adolescents and peer-reviewed academic journals including Current Psychology and Cross-Cultural Research. She has also presented her findings at multiple national and international conferences including the Society for Research in Child Development and the Association for Moral Education. Beyond her scholarly work, she is a dedicated educator who has won teaching awards from multiple middle and high schools from Illinois to Mexico to Sweden, and, most recently, from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. While working in high schools, she founded programs for immigrant parents and their children to inform them about the college admissions process so that the students could continue their education by attending university. A firm believer in the connection between mind and body, she has both founded and coached various track and soccer teams in the educational institutions where she has worked.

Stephanie Mota Thurston is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Program for Leadership and Character and the Divinity School at Wake Forest University. She received her B.A. in Religious Studies and Politics/International Relations from Scripps College and earned her M.A.R in Ethics from the Divinity School at Yale University. She completed her Ph.D. at Princeton Theological Seminary in the Religion and Society Department. Her dissertation, titled Making Citizens in a Credential Society: Identities, Values, and Practices at Brooklyn High, is an ethnographic study of moral and civic formation at a Title I public high school. Dr. Thurston’s research and teaching interests include religion and politics, philosophical and theological social ethics, political theory and political theology. Thurston has taught and written on complicity and moral responsibility and is especially interested in moral and political questions concerning school segregation, policing and prisons, and gendered institutional disparities.

Joe Wiinikka-Lydon is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Character Education with the Department of Engineering. He was recently a fellow and lecturer at the European-Union funded Center for Ethics at the University of Pardubice, outside of Prague. He received a B.A .from Georgetown University, an M.Div. from Harvard University, where he received the Thayer Award, and a Ph.D. from Emory University’s Graduate Division of Religion. Joe researches the ways moral development changes during times of conflict, drawing on moral philosophy, religious ethics, and anthropology to understand the effects of violence on morality and one’s sense of self. He is specifically interested in the way that virtue ethics can be used to help us better understand moral injuries and trauma. He is the author most recently of Moral Injury and the Promise of Virtue and has published articles in Philosophy, The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, Journal of Military Ethics, and Political Theology, among others. His work has led to invitations to contribute to several edited volumes and lecture at universities throughout Europe and North America. This includes a research stay with Uppsala University’s Engaging Vulnerability Project, keynote lectures at University of Vienna, Duquesne University, Trinity International University, as well as the Goodspeed Lecture at Denison University, and a “spiritual grand rounds” at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Administration Medical Center in Philadelphia. Before coming to Wake Forest, he taught at Birmingham-Southern College, Denison University, and Sewanee: The University of the South.

Dr. Adetoun Yeaman is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Engineering Education in the Department of Engineering. She earned her doctorate from Virginia Tech, where her research focused on understanding empathy in the experiences of undergraduate engineering students in service-learning courses. She has an M.S. degree in Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering and a B.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering, both from Virginia Commonwealth University. She has a strong interest in the ways that people interact and the role that engineering and technology play in society. To this end, she continues to look for ways to promote social competencies, such as empathy, within engineering education and practice. Her research spans a variety of areas including empathy in engineering, design education, and multimedia learning. She is excited to be a part of the dynamic team at Wake Forest University continuing to develop the emerging engineering program and incorporating character interventions in the undergraduate engineering curriculum. She is passionate about helping people find their place as valuable contributors in society and is enthusiastic about further fostering this passion in her current role.

Dr. Olga Pierrakos is Founding Chair and Professor in the Department of Engineering at Wake Forest University. She earned a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Virginia Tech and Wake Forest University. She also holds an M.S. in Engineering Mechanics and a B.S. in Engineering Science and Mechanics from Virginia Tech. With Dr. Michael Lamb, she is the Co-Principal Investigator of a grant focused on integrating character into engineering funded by the Kern Family Foundation as part of the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN). Before coming to Wake Forest, Dr. Pierrakos served as Program Director of the Division of Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation (NSF), where she managed a $100 million portfolio to advance STEM education in colleges and universities. She was also a founding faculty member of the Engineering Department at James Madison University. Her research focuses on engineering education, biomedical engineering, and mechanical engineering in sustainable energy systems.

Dr. Michael Gross is Associate Professor of Engineering, a founding faculty member of the undergraduate Department of Engineering, and the David and Leila Farr Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Wake Forest University. He holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Bucknell University. Gross researches fuel cells, materials processing, and gas adsorption calorimetry, as well as student motivation. His motivation work focuses on activity-level, or situational, student motivation in STEM courses with the goal of directly applying motivation theory and empirical research findings to practical course design. His teaching areas include Materials Science and Engineering, Engineering Thinking and Practice, Engineering Measurement and Analysis, and Capstone. He has received the prestigious National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program Award, the Wake Forest University Research Award for Excellence, and the Wake Forest University Innovative Teaching Award. He has worked closely with the Program for Leadership and Character to design and integrate character modules into the Engineering curriculum and train faculty on how to teach character to aspiring engineers.