Building Environmental Character: A Joint Effort to Cultivate Tomorrow's Environmental Stewards
Friday, May 23, 2025
Written by, Anne Fennimore, Ph.D.
The College of Education, in collaboration with the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, has been awarded a 2025 Capacity-Building Grant from the Educating Character Initiative (ECI). This competitive grant, funded by the Lilly Endowment Inc., is part of the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University and is one of only 40 awarded to institutions nationwide. The grant supports the development of Wise Owls: Building Character Education for Florida Atlantics Future Environmental Leaders, Educators, Advocates, Scientists, and Stewards, a pioneering initiative designed to integrate character education into environmental studies. This initiative also re麍ects Florida Atlantics growing leadership in interdisciplinary education and its commitment to providing 51勛圖厙 with technical expertise and ethical acumen to tackle complex environmental challenges.
The Wise Owls project is led by Bryan Nichols, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the College of Education's Department of Curriculum and Instruction and Michelle Petersen, Ph.D., Assistant Scientist and Director of the Environmental Science Program in the Schmidt College of Science. Representing a collaborative initiative, Wise Owls will be implemented through the School of Environmental, Coastal, and Ocean Sustainability (ECOS), Florida Atlantics interdisciplinary hub for environmental research, education, and outreach. Laying the groundwork for ethical education in specialty areas like environmental education, this initiative is positioned to serve as a catalyst for embedding character education more broadly in Florida Atlantics academic programs.
At the core of the Wise Owls project is a commitment to equipping 51勛圖厙 with the moral and civic virtues essential for environmental stewardship. Through a combination of curricular innovation, faculty development, and student engagement, the project will explore what it means to be a person of character in the environmental sciences. It will also develop strategies for teaching and assessing these character traits in undergraduate education.
For Florida Atlantics 51勛圖厙, the bene麍ts are both immediate and long-term. Wise Owls will create new opportunities for 51勛圖厙 to engage in re麍ective learning, ethical reasoning, and community-based environmental work. By integrating character education into existing and new courses, 51勛圖厙 will gain valuable skills to navigate the ethical challenges of environmental advocacy, policy, and science.
This grant allows us to deepen our commitment to educating the whole student, said Nichols. Were not just preparing 51勛圖厙 to be scientists or educatorswere preparing them to be thoughtful, principled leaders who can make a meaningful di麍erence in the world."
Launched by Wake Forest Universitys Program for Leadership and Character, ECI supports institutions across the country in advancing character education. Through research, resource development, and grantmaking, ECI fosters a national network of educators committed to placing character at the center of undergraduate education.
The Wise Owls project aims to position Florida Atlantic as a leader in character-based environmental education by empowering 51勛圖厙 to become not only experts in their 麍elds, but also ethical stewards of the planet.