Archives: Newsletter Post

In this essay, James Arthur, the former Director of the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, reflects on civic virtues and higher education. He writes, “The value of higher education should surely be seen in the lives of university students—not only in what they do or which professions they go into, but in what they […]

How do you cultivate ethical values and commitments within nursing at a large public university where the students often differ in religious, ethnic, political and socio-economic backgrounds? Leanne Burke, Associate Clinical Professor and Pre-Licensure Program Director at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), faced this challenge head-on when she arrived on campus. Engaging a diverse […]

Virtues & Vocations is pleased to announce that Norman Wirzoa, Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Christian Theology & Senior Fellow a t the Kenan Institute of Ethics at Duke University, will receive the first Virtues & Vocations New Book Award for Love’s Braided Dance: Hope in Times of Crisis. The award will be presented […]

with Sian L. Beilock, Jennifer Frey, Roosevelt Montás, Eboo Patel, Deondra Rose, and Michael Roth When we talk about cultivating civil disagreement and courage of convictions on and off campus what are signs of hope? What are challenges to overcome? We asked campus and cultural leaders to respond to these questions and share their perspectives […]

The Institute for Citizens and Scholars (C&S) is leading a national effort to reshape how colleges and universities foster civic engagement on campus. An initiative of C&S, College Presidents for Civic Preparedness unites 100+ campus leaders nationwide to equip students with the skills to engage in civic life and strengthen their communities. The initiative offers […]

Deeply rooted in the wisdom of the Jewish Tradition, Sharon Brous’s (2024) The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend our Broken Hearts and World is about the simple (though not easy) act of showing up, of being there for others in all of life’s moments. Using her own life experiences as a point of departure, […]

In this reflection, Jack Bell draws on his experience as a farmer to discuss how modern forms of giving have decoupled generosity from its social context. Thinking at the nexus of nature and culture, Bell wonders if the virtue of generosity might offer a more sensible framework for thinking about our relationship with the world. […]

When Craig Goehler’s first-year engineering students walk into their first engineering design course and pick up a syllabus, they probably expect problem sets and design assignments. So they are likely surprised to see words like “empathy, honesty, and justice” in the weekly learning outcomes alongside those assignments. But for Goehler, an associate teaching professor in […]

Last week a student told me his dyslexia both made him unusually creative and gave him a special sense of wonder. From what I knew of him, the claim made intuitive sense to me. He is the kind of wildly clever student who sees and connects dots others never even see. I had Eoin in […]

Greg Boyle’s 2010 bestselling book, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, has been an inspiration to our work at the Institute for Social Concerns. In the book, Boyle writes, “our common human hospitality longs to find room for those who are left out.” For Boyle, this hospitality looks like radical kinship, based on […]