UJ Receives Two Major Leadership Grants

The University of Jamestown’s Unruh School of Character in Leadership is expanding its efforts as a national leader in character in leadership education through two significant grant-funded initiatives that will deepen character formation, vocational discernment, faculty development, and scholarly research across campus and beyond.

Recently, the University received an Educating Character Initiative (ECI) Institutional Impact Grant for its project, Character Across Campus: Holistic Development of Virtue and a NetVUE Professional Development Award from the Council of Independent Colleges to explore the relationship between vocation and the University’s Character in Leadership Virtue Framework. Together, these initiatives strengthen the University’s long-standing commitment to developing leaders of character who serve the greater good.

“Character development has been at the core of the University of Jamestown since its founding in 1883,” said Dr. Elizabeth K. Hunt, Executive Director of the Unruh School of Character in Leadership and principal investigator for the grants. “These grants allow us to expand that tradition in meaningful ways by helping students, faculty, and staff connect character, leadership, and vocation while contributing new knowledge to the national conversation on character education.”

Building a Culture of Character Across Campus
The Character Across Campus initiative, funded in part through the ECI, a project of The Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University, seeks to create a comprehensive culture of character that extends throughout the student experience and the broader university community. The project is guided by the University’s Character in Leadership Virtue Framework, which emphasizes six core virtues: courage, service, integrity, humility, wisdom, and excellence, supported by the foundational Christian virtues of faith, hope, and love.

Over the next three years, the project will focus on four primary goals:

• Communicating and strengthening a culture of character throughout the campus community.
• Expanding innovative opportunities for student character formation.
• Enhancing faculty and staff expertise in character education.
• Conducting practical assessment and scholarly research related to character development in higher education.

Planned activities include new and redeveloped programming, expanding staff and faculty professional development, increasing regional outreach, and continued and expanded participation in the national and global research efforts related to character education.

Connecting Character and Vocation
Complementing these efforts, the NetVUE Professional Development Award will support a year-long initiative focused on providing faculty and staff with teaching resources related to vocational exploration and discernment. Faculty and staff from across the University will participate in retreats, collaborative workshops, guided readings, and the development of a practical vocational discernment guide that helps staff and faculty support students to connect their personal character development with questions of purpose, calling, and meaningful contribution. The initiative will explore how the University’s character framework naturally supports vocational discernment by asking key questions about the relationship between virtue formation and vocational discernment and how faculty and staff can better engage students in conversations about purpose and service.

The Unruh School of Character in Leadership
Established through a transformational gift in 2023, the Unruh School of Character in Leadership serves as the institutional home for the University of Jamestown’s character in leadership initiatives and reflects the University’s commitment to educating the whole person.

The School provides a comprehensive pathway for character in leadership development through academic programs, professional education, community engagement, and scholarly inquiry.

Programs and initiatives include:

• Character in Leadership Scholars Program (Undergraduate Minor): A four-year interdisciplinary program that integrates character development, ethical leadership, service, reflection, and experiential learning. Since its launch in 2006, the program has graduated more than 300 students and has become a cornerstone of character education at the University.
• Master of Leadership Program: Designed for professionals seeking to develop advanced leadership knowledge grounded in ethical decision-making, character, and service.
• Doctor of Leadership Program: A terminal degree that prepares scholar-practitioners to lead organizational change, conduct research, and contribute to the advancement of leadership and character development.
• Leadertown Conference: An annual conference that brings together students, educators, business leaders, and community members to explore the role of character in flourishing human lives, organizations, and communities.
• Leadertown Labs: Customized leadership development experiences, workshops, and professional training programs designed for businesses, nonprofit organizations, schools, churches, and community groups seeking practical tools for leadership, teamwork, communication, culture development, and character formation.
• Professional Development Workshops and Community Programming: The Unruh School regularly hosts educational workshops, speaker series, faculty development opportunities, and public programs that support lifelong growth in character and leadership.

Creating Regional and National Impact
University leaders believe the combined impact of these grant-funded projects will extend far beyond campus. In addition to benefiting more than 2,000 University of Jamestown students and employees, the initiatives will provide resources, workshops, scholarly contributions, and professional development opportunities to colleges, universities, educators, businesses, and community organizations throughout the region.

“Leadership is not a position or title,” Hunt said. “At the University of Jamestown, we define leadership as benevolent service for the Good. Everything we do through the Unruh School of Character in Leadership is designed to help people develop the virtues, wisdom, and sense of purpose necessary to lead lives of meaningful impact.”

About the University of Jamestown Unruh school of Character in Leadership
Founded in 1883, the University of Jamestown is a private Christian liberal arts and professional university dedicated to developing wholeness in students through academic excellence, character development, and servant leadership. Through the Unruh School of Character in Leadership, the university equips students to lead lives of purpose, integrity, and benevolent service for the greater good.