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Justice Education

Should Universities Care About Virtue?

Soundbites from past Virtues & Vocations webinars

“For character and for grit, not only does the expression of your character and your grit require that you are in a situation where that is possible, but you also are a product of your past, so we need young people to grow up in circumstances where they can develop the mindsets and skillsets that undergird character development.”

Angela Duckworth, Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Grit

“HBCUs were founded on the premise that everybody should have a high-quality education and that that education should be about doing something good for your community and making your communities better. And I think that has to be the shift in higher education in general.”

Elwood L. Robinson, Chancellor of Winston-Salem State University

“Higher education is about the development of citizens . . . in a broad sense, meaning, a person who participates in an informed and responsible way in a democratic society. It seems to me that every college and university ought to consider that responsibility among its highest.”

Andrew Delbanco, Professor of American Studies at Columbia University and President of the Teagle Foundation

“We also think about building character through having purpose and working on teams, working collaboratively, thinking about what you are working on outside of yourself and how it is being used for others.”

Gilda Barabino, President of Olin College of Engineering

“Part of what liberal arts is for is to help people think about what work is and what community is in a way that is constructive and helpful and imaginative and creative and makes things better. . . . The liberal arts are not content. There’s a lot of content and a lot of things you can learn, but the core of a liberal arts education are those habits and virtues.”

Zena Hitz, Tutor at St. John’s College and author of Lost in Thought