Events and Initiatives

Culture of Character Community of Practice

A community of practice is an innately connective means to learn from one another and grow together.

The Office of Educational Excellence is sponsoring character or virtue-grounded communities of practice with the desired outcomes of increased personal and professional connection and heightened sense of belonging and support from a community of colleagues.

We invite proposals from groups or individuals who have a desire to learn more about a particular topic or area of consternation that they believe would be of interest to others. It is possible that you may have a loosely formed idea that warrants more exploration and will be determined as your group meets. If that is the case, your CoP would be considered ‘exploratory.’ If you have already selected a topic, your CoP would be considered ‘predetermined.’ Specifics about each type follow below. Creativity is encouraged and we hope you find a format that works best for your community and idea. Regardless of selected format, we do suggest limiting membership to 8-10 participants.

Potential Formats

Exploratory

No programming pre-planned, all activities and discussions guided entirely by those who join with no predetermination. In this group, the facilitator will guide the group to:
- Identify their desired outcomes for a group experience
- Assist the group in creating a schedule of activities, resources to be utilized, etc.
- Facilitate each meeting of the group

Predetermined

Will have a predetermined main topic for exploration and learning and a curriculum framework (e.g., readings and reflections, lecture and discussion, articles with prompts, webinars with guided discussion questions, hypothetical lessons for participants to workshop, group creation prompts, reflective activities, case studies, or some combination of these, etc.).

The group(s) may decide together if they wanted to branch away from the original content based on membership, interests, natural conversations, etc., by determining a process for that during ground rule discussions, but there would be the original programming to fall back on if no natural departures from those topics arise.

CoP Cadence Suggestions

Determine a meeting schedule that suits your needs and collective purpose
- 1x month if spreading out the timeline
- 2x month if more abbreviated, overarching schedule

Financial Support

The Office of Educational Excellence has available funding for books, supplies, meals, etc. for groups prioritizing character or virtue development. Please reach out to us for additional information. Please complete this for to be a recognized CoP.

Cultivating Character and Connection in Medical Education: Enhancing medical student wellbeing for collective flourishing

WHEN: April 24 - 26, 2025WHERE: Wake Forest Biotech Place
575 Patterson Avenue Winston-Salem, 27101

Keynote Speaker: Mylien Duong

Trained as a clinical psychologist, Mylien Duong has spent the last 13 years developing and testing psychology-based tools for educational spaces, with an emphasis on tools that are

Evidence-based
Easy to implement
Practical

She has secured over $25 million in grant funding and published over 50 scientific articles and book chapters. Her educational tools have been used by over 100,000 educators across the United States.

She’s interested in how cultures – in big groups and in small ones – can take on a life of their own, and how human needs for belonging and connection have fueled polarization but can also be its antidote.

When she’s not working, you can find her rehabilitating land with her husband in Washington State.

Conference Registration for non-Wake Forest University affiliated attendees: $150

Presentation Proposals Due: January 1, 2025

Presenters will be notified of their status on January 15, 2025.

Theme: The Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues says human flourishing “requires the acquisition and development of intellectual, moral, and civic virtues, excellence specific to diverse domains of practice or human endeavor, and generic virtues of self-management.”

This conference aims to offer practical strategies for integrating character education across all subject areas, demonstrating how educators can incorporate character to enhance student engagement and connection in their institutions, and encouraging conversations about best practices to support individual and collective flourishing. Please consider attending if you are a student, faculty, or staff member at a medical school, undergraduate institution, community college or secondary school. We welcome counseling and wellbeing professionals, community members, relevant scholars, and all those interested in student wellbeing and flourishing.

Presentation Formats

Interactive workshops (80 minute)
Panel sessions (50 minute)
Poster session
Facilitated Table Talk

Key Questions to Consider for Submissions

In a post-pandemic world, how can educators and institutions create environments and experiences that cultivate meaningful peer connections among students?
What virtues and character strengths lead to students flourishing as medical professionals and how do we cultivate those?
Which character traits or virtues are required for ethical leadership in the medical field?
Should professional schools focus on character? Is it too late?
What role does character play in a medical professional’s identity formation?
How does the culture of an institution color character or virtue development?
How do we help students arrive at a definition of character that feels authentic to them?

Inviting submissions for:

General character education projects and curricular efforts
Character-infused faculty development
Efforts focused on increasing equity, inclusion and/or belonging through character development
Staff and faculty professional development
Wellbeing or flourishing efforts within the curriculum or co-curricular space
Assessment practices

Special thanks to the Kern Family Foundation for generously supporting character education at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and making this conference possible.

Contact the Conference Planning Committee via email at officeofeducationalexcellence@wakehealth.edu.

Character-Scholar Grants – Call for Proposals

At Wake Forest University School of Medicine, we believe that graduating researchers and practitioners with strong character sets us apart. While character education has many possible facets and approaches, we focus on five Dispositional Learning Outcomes for students:

Curiosity: Demonstrate a desire to understand the thoughts, experiences and feelings of others with a natural desire to build knowledge.
Intellectual humility: Demonstrate the recognition of one’s intellectual limitations in a way that fosters the productive sharing of ideas.
Compassion: Demonstrate the ability to understand another person's suffering and willingness to help and promote the wellbeing of others.
Respect for diversity: Demonstrate the ability to acknowledge difference constructively and work well with others who think, act, and look differently.
Collaboration: Demonstrate active development and maintenance of positive relationships among others a way that fosters the productive sharing of ideas and mutual support.

To encourage greater conversation about and participation in all areas of character education, up to 20 Character-Scholar Grants will be awarded to students, faculty and staff who wish to strengthen their ability to educate and embed character in their distinctive contexts or who would like to implement extracurricular character education programming for any WFUSM audience. Awards will typically range from $500-2500.

Potential project activities could include, but are not limited to, some or all of the following:

Credit-bearing courses and/or co-curricular programming, such as speaker events, discussion groups, retreats, and/or workshops for students, faculty, and/or staff
Honoraria for visiting scholars, educators, or experts to generate interest in character education, lead a faculty workshop on character or strategies to educate it, and/or provide insight on how it might be integrated at their institution
Books and materials for faculty/staff seminars, reading groups, and research on character education
Survey administration and participant incentives to collect data from students, faculty, and staff related to the impact or viability of projects or initiatives
Professional development support, such as travel and registration for relevant workshops that focus on character or character education

Because we are eager to support diverse approaches to character education and learn from thoughtful experimentations, we encourage project leaders to be intentional and creative in building the necessary support and capacity to educate character across their institutions. Given limited funding, we also encourage project leaders to be frugal with resources and intentional about which funds are most necessary to achieve the project’s aims.

Application Instructions

Interested applicants for the Character-Scholar Grants should apply by sending the following materials to OfficeofEducational@wakehealth.edu:

Contact Information for Principal Investigator(s) and Administrative Assistant(s) (if applicable)
Project Name and Abstract (500-word maximum)
Amount Requested ($2500 maximum)
Proposal narrative addressing the following (5-page maximum):
- A description of the core goals of the project.
- A description of project activities and explanation of why grant support is necessary to complete these activities.
- A description of the target impact and outcomes relating to both educating character and building capacity, including how those outcomes will be achieved as well as assessed or measured.
- A timeline of activities, to extend not more than one year beginning in Summer 2024.
Curriculum vitae for the project leader(s)
Budget, including separate lines that categorize faculty engagement & curriculum development, student programming, research & assessment, personnel, and other character-related training costs as applicable. General overhead or indirect costs may not be included in the request; however, direct costs for administration, equipment, and consumable items may be included. Applicants are encouraged to determine how best to use grant funds and to show institutional support through cost-sharing and donor-matching where appropriate.
Optional appendices:
- Additional artifacts that support the narrative of the initial application, such as course syllabi; program descriptions; published or on-going research; a description of character-focused conferences, workshops, or convenings; or descriptions of grants and awards focused on character formation.

Grant Funded Events

Flourishing in Character Workshops

The Office of Educational Excellence would love to host a Flourishing in Character workshop for your team. This workshop would teach the framework and debate around character education, help develop strategies for how character education can be applied in the clinical and classroom settings, and facilitate meaningful dialogue among teammates about how to develop ones personal character to be a role model for students to follow. We believe in the “Taught, Caught, Sought” method of character education meaning students can be taught leadership skills in workshops, but need to see faculty and mentors as moral exemplars, so they then seek how they themselves can be better personally and professionally.

These workshops can be offered separately as two two-hour experiences (Curriculum Development Focused or Faculty Development focused) or as one four hour workshop combining both concepts.

Please reach out to officeofeducationalexcellence@wakehealth.edu for more information or to schedule a workshop for your team.

Personal and Professional Identity Formation Series: Religion and Spirituality

Personal and Professional Identity Formation Series
Religion and Spirituality

Featuring: Ethan Stonerook MS, MPAS, PA-C, Rev. F Keith Stirewalt, MDiv, DMSc, PA-C, MBA, and Sobia Hussaini MHA

Date: November 14, 2024 at 12 PM
Location: BGCME Large Flat and Leon Levine Hall
Lunch Provided: Yes
Virtual Attendance: Available via WebEx
RSVP by: November 11, 2024