The Character Catalyst Grant is an opportunity for USA-based graduates of the Jubilee Centre’s MA Character Education programme to advance their existing work in character education. Provided by the generous support of the Kern Family Foundation, small grants are available to those who provide a successful application.
Below you will find completed projects for those who were successful for the grant. Some projects include resources and information. Please ensure you contact the Project Lead before using any materials produced by any of these projects and please speak to the Jubilee Centre team if you are unsure how to proceed.
If you are an eligible candidate for the Character Catalyst Grant and are interested in applying, click here to find out more.
On-going projects that are not yet complete can also be viewed here.
Cultivating Moral Reasoning in Aspiring Leaders
Maureen Spelman
North Central College
The aim of this project was to evaluate the hypotheses that leadership candidates would advance in their development of virtue literacy and moral reasoning over a period of two years.
Project overview
Virtue literacy has been defined as perceiving, knowing, and understanding virtue language and concepts needed to make reasoned judgements. While cultivating each of these components can lead to mastery of a particular virtue, the foundation must first be laid through the development of a common virtue vocabulary and opportunities to translate that knowledge into action.
The first aim of this grant supported research was to determine if candidates participating in character & virtue-based interventions would demonstrate advancements in the development of virtue literacy in the initial course and maintain or continue to demonstrate growth at the end of a two-year program. Writing samples gathered prior to the start of the educational leadership program, at the conclusion of the first course, and at the end of program provided data on the development of virtue literacy in aspiring leaders.
When virtues are viewed through a Neo-Aristotelian lens, they are interconnected and orchestrated by the meta-virtue of practical wisdom. A valuable method for developing moral decision-making processes and practical wisdom may be through sustained practice with authentic ethical dilemmas. Practicing with and responding to authentic ethical dilemmas through a structured reflective framework allows candidates to engage in collective phronesis, make sense of complexity, and choose an intelligent and virtuous response to ethical dilemmas.
The second aim of this research proposal was to determine if candidates exploring education-based dilemmas using an Ethical Dilemma Reflection Framework would demonstrate advancements in the development of moral reasoning in the initial course and maintain or continue to continue to demonstrate growth at the end of a two-year program. The Defining Issues Test administered prior to the start of the educational leadership program, at the conclusion of the first course, and at the conclusion of the capstone course provided data on the development of moral reasoning in aspiring leaders.
Two pending publications feature my unique Ethical Dilemma Reflection Framework that was first introduced in a 2023 Jubilee Centre report Teaching Character: A Practical Guide.
Pending publications
Book Chapter – Integrating Virtue Development into Educational Leadership Programs – accepted & in final editing – Teaching Educational Leadership, Edgar Elgar Publishing, publication confirmed – February 2026.
Manuscript – Cultivating Practically Wise Decision-Making: An Empirical Study on Leadership Formation – currently under review for a special issue of the Journal of Character Education.
Conference presentations
- Association of Moral Education – October 24-26, 2024 (New York)
- Wake Forest – Leadership & Character Conference – December 5-7, 2024 (Winston Salem, NC)
- 13th Annual Conference – Jubilee Center for Character & Virtue – January 9-11, 2025 (Oxford, UK)
- Kern Family Foundation Partners in Character and Educational Leadership – KPCEL – March 3-5 (Memphis, TN)
- MA Character Education Residential – April 13-15, 2025 (Boston, MA)
- American Educational Research Association (AERA) – April 23-27, 2025 (Denver CO)
- The Character Convening 2025 – May 12-14 (Pensacola, FL)
- Higher Education & Human Flourishing Virtues & Vocations/Institute for Social Concerns – May 20-23 (Notre Dame, IN)
- Association of Moral Education – August 6-9 (Tampere, Finland)
Further information
Episode 1: Ethical Decision Making with Dr. Maureen Spelman
Developing Training Resources for Mentors and Faculty Partners
Zachary Loveless
Hyde Park Institute
The aim of the project was to put together a guide to character education—primarily for our program mentors, but also useful for faculty or administrators with whom we work or those beginning character education themselves
Project overview
My projected developed a guide to character education for Hyde Park Institute (HPI). HPI is an independent non-profit that offers character education programming to UChicago students, often in collaboration with faculty or other professionals. To facilitate the contribution of these partners to our programming – especially practicing professionals who serve as mentors to program participants – we wanted to provide an orientation to character and its development that was clear, concise, and easily digestible. However, we hope it will be useful to those outside the UChicago community who are interested in educating character. The guide clarifies the notions of virtue and practical wisdom. It explains the connection between virtue and both acting well and faring well, as well as why a university context is appropriate for educating character. And it reviews strategies for encouraging character development providing examples of their implementation individually and in cohesive programs. The guide has a written portion or videos so you can listen along.
Resources and outputs
This guide provides an overview to Hyde Park Institute’s approach to character education and can be viewed here through the HPI website.
Leveraging Character Education to Reinvigorate Teaching about Race in the US
Barbara Whitlock
Montrose School
The aim of the project was to put together a guide to character education—primarily for our program mentors, but also useful for faculty or administrators with whom we work or those beginning character education themselves
Project overview
While teaching about Race in the U.S. has been complicated by the effects of political polarization, the principles developed through character education research offer a fresh lens to illuminate old challenges. I will introduce research from a three-year intervention study to support greater engagement in dialogue about race, which expands upon the 2021 research published in The Courageous Dialogue Toolkit (Whitlock & Bohlin, 2021). This current research promises to inform teaching practice while offering insights into building school culture.
Character education research on moral exemplars and moral dilemmas informs this approach that has antecedents in the work of W.E.B. Dubois and targets the roots of racism in “the danger of single stories,” as coined by the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Nigozi Adichie.
Cultivating the Virtue of Service in Teens
Jayme Giovannetti
St. Augustine Preparatory Academy
The aim of this project was to evaluate the impact on student character growth in the areas of generosity, empathy and critical thinking via participation in a service-based club.
Project overview
This project aimed to examine considerations in building a habit of service in teens that aligns right motivation with right results. Seeking to evaluate the impact on student character growth in the areas of generosity, empathy and critical thinking via participation in a service-based club, I pulled from existing research to create a working theory for how to ensure the achievement of “good” through service that was shared during the Boston Residential and has been written up in a summary of my findings and experience. The overarching focus was on the need for relationship in a way that prioritizes both sides of the double benefit– recipients and participants; emphasizing dignity and empowerment for the served, and critical engagement for those serving.
The main focus of this work was a High School after school club we dubbed the Service Club. 5-10 students volunteered consistently through the school year, meeting every Tuesday for one hour. Our once-weekly meetings initially aimed to identify social justice issues the residents of our city face and the organisations working to address them. Specifically, we sought to understand how to align our right motivations to serve with right results for the recipients of our acts of service. We also examined the virtues of generosity and gratitude, seeking to ensure that they were enacted rightly and present in the work we did for both servers and those served. To do this effectively, our work centred on evaluating social justice issues through the lens of relationships, specifically by identifying broken relationships causing a situation of need. We then researched existing work being done to address these needs in various ways around our city, determining how the work promoted recipient dignity and empowerment through the lens of built or restored relationships. Next, we reached out to several organisations doing this work and asked for ways to come alongside them. This led to several volunteer opportunities throughout the school year. Service Club students shoveled horse manure, wrapped Christmas presents, handed out Rosca de Reyes and champurrado along with Three Kings Day gifts, filled treat bowls for shelter dogs, and gave up a couple Saturday mornings to run a grocery store and cafe at a food distribution center, to name a few. These opportunities were compiled into a flyer for our high school students in an effort to invite other students into the work leading towards the betterment (read “flourishing”) of our community.
Students who participated revealed a deeper understanding of how to approach service in a way that ensures lasting positive impact for recipients. They also expressed feeling more connected to their community via the relationships they were able to build with the people they served and served alongside. It is our shared hope that the work we did and the lessons we learned will prompt others to serve more frequently, approaching community needs with critical engagement and a willingness to build lasting relationships leading to shared prosperity– flourishing together.
Resources and outputs
The connection between service participation and the cultivation of virtue. To be uploaded shortly.
University Character Education: Contributing to the Conversation
Michael Hahn
Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota
The overall aim of this project was to contribute to the conversation around university character education, particularly the role that character friendships play.
Project overview
There is growing interest and research in the area of university character education. American universities have undertaken initiatives to renew a focus on character development as an aim of education. At the same time, there is a need for a greater diversity of perspectives to contribute to this conversation.
Character friendships is a topic of particular importance for university character education. Aristotle devotes two chapters in his Nicomachean Ethics to the ways that friendship shapes us, and recently there has been renewed interest in friendship as a method of moral education (Kristjansson 2022). Since friendship is also an important topic in the Christian tradition, the perspective of faith-based universities is a necessary voice to include in the conversation. Through the publication of two journal articles, this project will explore the complementarity of Aristotelian and Christian understandings of friendship and the educational impact. In addition to the focus on friendship, related questions include: What “value-add” does an Aristotelian character education approach provide for faith-based universities? And what does Christianity add to an Aristotelian understanding of virtue?
A related and critical area of importance for university character education is curriculum development, particularly how to effectively integrate a character-focus into undergraduate and graduate programs. While several American universities have recently undertaken this work, there still remains a dearth of practical literature and resources about how to do this effectively. This work will explore a recently completed a university curriculum project for a graduate education program. Through this multi-year process, several lessons were learned that are applicable beyond the university. This project endeavours to prepare an article for publication that includes lessons from our experience, practical suggestions, and strategies for curriculum integration. Since one of the cohorts in this program is offered in Kuwait, it will also emphasize the transnational, transcultural, and trans-religious appeal of this work.