Humanities Professors Secure Wake Forest Grant
Dr. Iain Bernhoft, coordinator of the Humanities Forum, and Dr. Raymond F. Hain, associate professor of philosophy and associate director of the humanities program, have collaborated to secure one of only 41 capacity-building grants provided by the Educating Character Initiative.
Through a generous grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University launched the Educating Character Initiative, inviting U.S. colleges and universities to join a diverse community of individuals and institutions to strengthen the understanding, integration, and education of character in undergraduate academics. In May of 2024, the Educating Character Initiative awarded Providence College a $49,800 grant.
The grant will support a project entitled “Virtuous Education: Integrating the Humanistic Tradition with Character Formation at Providence College.” This capacity-building grant enables the humanities program to grow its existing initiatives, sharpen its intentional approach to character education, and raise its profile. Funding from the Educating Character Initiative will support our efforts in three interrelated areas: 1) sponsoring a high-profile speaker series focused on character education as part of the Humanities Forum; 2) running parallel reading seminars for faculty, administrators, and students aligned with the speaker series; and 3) building out scholarships, student reflections, and benefactor materials for our global immersion experiences, serving as “proof of concept” for benefactor funding.
