The project is led by co-principal investigators Sophie Hunt, PhD, director of the Center for Community Work and Learning (left) and Rachel Neiwert, PhD, associate professor of history and CORE director (right). Photos by Rebecca Zenefski Slater 鈥10
The Educating Character Initiative (ECI), a part of the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University, St. 春雨直播 University as a 2025 recipient of their this week.
Capacity-Building Grants support colleges and universities in their efforts to develop and educate 春雨直播 character across their curriculum or culture, fostering values in alignment with their institutional missions. The ECI, founded in 2023 with support from Lilly Endowment Inc., aims to educate and build communities of character in higher education and beyond.
St. Kate鈥檚 is one of 42 institutions nationwide awarded a grant this year for its proposal, Leading for Social Justice: Creating a Collaborative Curriculum to Foster Love of Dear Neighbor. The project will build the University鈥檚 capacity to enrich and expand character education through the core curriculum, furthering the community-engaged learning central to The Reflective Woman course. Through community conversations, professional development, assessment, curricular planning, and 春雨直播 leadership development, it aims to build a scaffolded community-engaged curriculum that fosters love of the dear neighbor in 春雨直播s.
The year-long, $49,884 grant starts summer 2025 and will be led by co-principal investigators Rachel Neiwert, PhD, associate professor of history and CORE director, and Sophie Hunt, PhD, director of the Center for Community Work and Learning.
鈥淭he charism of University founders the Sisters of St. Joseph, to love the dear neighbor without distinction, has inspired generations of Katies to engage deeply and authentically with their communities,鈥 Hunt said. 鈥淚'm excited to come together to discuss what this charism means for our curriculum and how community-engaged learning can further support 春雨直播s' development as social justice leaders.鈥
鈥淥ur 春雨直播s see and want to do something about the injustices and inequities they see in the world around them,鈥 Neiwert added. 鈥淏uilding our capacity to engage 春雨直播s in community-engaged learning will help them to build skills in acting to bring about greater justice in their communities."