Leadership, Character, & Integrity Archive

Wake Forest is at the forefront of a national character education movement, serving as a model, source of funding, and thought partner to over 150 institutions.

Wake Forest’s medical school orientation program LAUNCH now incorporates character development, using storytelling, peer connection, and the Program’s Seven Strategies to ground new MD students in virtues from day one.

Wake Forest professor Rebecca Gill turned her Netflix-inspired curiosity into a course examining famous con artists, using fraud cases like Fyre Festival to teach students about virtue, vice, and ethical decision-making.

The University’s Program for Leadership and Character will lead an initiative to help young golfers and Demon Deacon student-athletes live a life well played.

Clare Magee was a member of the Leadership and Character in the Law Scholars Cohort. Now, as an alumna, she’s using that experience to navigate life as an attorney.

Using C.S. Lewis’s concept of “scoundrelism,” Wake Forest law professor Kenneth Townsend argues that true professional character formation goes beyond avoiding punishment — it requires cultivating virtue, integrity, and a commitment to human flourishing.

Wake Forest soccer star Cooper Flax found brotherhood and meaning at a Leadership and Character retreat.

Fifty-two faculty from Wake Forest and beyond gathered for a three-day workshop to learn how to intentionally integrate character development into their courses using backward design and evidence-based strategies.

Wake Forest’s Educating Character Initiative awarded $15.6 million in grants to 33 colleges and universities nationwide, supporting three-year projects to embed character development across undergraduate curricula.

A new $30 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. will enable Wake Forest’s Educating Character Initiative to fund a new round of institutional grants and grow its community of 1,600+ higher education faculty and staff.