University Character Education: Contributing to the Conversation

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.