Conference cultivates joyful movement for character in higher education

June 17, 2026

When Dr. Ricardo Nuila, a physician at a Houston-based safety-net hospital, accepted an invitation from the Institute for Social Concerns to present at the third annual Virtues & Vocations Conference on Higher Education and Human Flourishing at the University of Notre Dame this June, he may have been expecting a typical academic conference. But as associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine and author of The People’s Hospital who weaves the arts and humanities into medical education, he came away from the conference with the sense that he was part of something bigger—a joyful, swelling national movement of peers across the professions who, like him, are dedicated to reviving purpose and character within higher education.

“The conference gave me permission to use words that I knew were true to my feelings and thoughts, words like ‘meaning’ and ‘goodness,’” Nuila wrote to the institute afterward. “I’ve returned home inspired to keep working in this space.”

Cross-professional book talk with, left to right, authors *David Sandberg,* Reynolds Holding, *moderator Abraham Nussbaum*, *Douglas Haynes,* *and Michelle Williams*

“The conference gave me permission to use words that I knew were true to my feelings and thoughts, words like ‘meaning’ and ‘goodness.’”

– Ricardo Ernesto Nuila, associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas

Nuila’s profound experience is precisely what the institute aims to create through the national forum Virtues & Vocations and its flagship annual conference. Supported in part by the Kern Family Foundation, Virtues & Vocations cultivates a community where character and competence combine to create human flourishing through beauty, attentiveness, and radical hospitality.

*Graphic recorder Matt Orley illustrates Krista Tippett’s keynote address in real time*

The conference is designed as a scholarly retreat. As Suzanne Shanahan, the Leo and Arlene Hawk Executive Director of the Institute for Social Concerns, explained it, the conference “brings together the civic and the spiritual, centers beauty, inspires moral imagination, and sparks collective effervescence.”

Through keynote lectures by Peabody Award-winning broadcaster Krista Tippett and Comment magazine editor-in-chief Anne Snyder, alongside dynamic panels and breakout sessions, the conference addressed a vital question drawing world-class educators to Notre Dame: How can universities train young people not just for future careers but for meaningful vocations that contribute to human flourishing?

This is a question “at the heart of Notre Dame’s mission,” Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame, shared with participants. He noted that the conference’s themes reflect the vision of Father Basil Moreau, founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross, who called its educational institutions to “cultivate both the life of the mind and the habits of the heart.”

The University’s mission makes it a natural epicenter for a national movement devoted to the revival of virtue in higher education. Of the 140 faculty attending from 75 institutions across the country, nearly 40 joined from Notre Dame, including a dozen who also attended a pre-conference workshop as part of a partnership to integrate character formation throughout science, engineering, architecture, and business.

While the structured sessions offered rich intellectual depth, much of the magic happened across campus in the spaces in between. Whether attendees were touring Fr. Ted’s historic office or the majestic Basilica with a faculty expert, exploring the inspiring collections at the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, or engaging in animated discussions in the Geddes Hall Coffee House or over shared meals, a sense of collective joy was palpable. The conference also cultivated moments of delight with a live graphic recorder illustrating the sessions in real time, buttons with memorable lines created on site, and an invited Poetry Fox who typed spontaneous, on-demand poems on a vintage typewriter.

“I can’t thank the team at the Institute for Social Concern enough for making Virtues & Vocations a truly meaningful conference,” Nuila shared. “I loved every moment of it. Not only did the speakers leave me swirling with ideas, but I also felt like I made lifelong friendships.”

Ultimately, this swirl of brilliant ideas and lifelong community is propelling the movement for the cultivation of character and the flourishing of society.

All photos by Peter Ringenberg for the University of Notre Dame.