Educating Character
This website is a useful clearinghouse for resources related to character development in university settings.
Across institutional roles, responsibilities, and disciplines, college and university leaders are adopting a renewed focus on the vital importance of character education, both for forming students to use their knowledge, skills, and capacities to serve humanity and for highlighting the distinctive value of higher education in contemporary life. Current faculty overwhelmingly see character formation as part of their role: in a recent faculty survey administered by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, 85% of 20,000 faculty across 143 four-year institutions said they “agree” or “strongly agree” that it is important for faculty to “develop students’ moral character” and “help students develop personal values.”
Across several fields, scholars are advancing more sophisticated and practically
relevant accounts of character, and experts have illuminated why educating good character can be a valuable purpose for institutions of higher education. In particular, intentional efforts to educate character can support student wellbeing and flourishing, sustain academic excellence and integrity, promote equitable and inclusive community, foster good leadership and citizenship, advance career preparation and vocational discernment, and encourage the responsible use of technology. In many cases, educating character can also support an institution’s efforts to fulfill its distinctive educational mission, values, and aspirations.