We are accepting proposals for The "Cultivating Virtue" Project. All full-time Catholic University faculty who teach undergraduates are invited to submit proposals. The deadline for submitting a proposal has been extended to 4/30/26.
The “Cultivating Virtue” project is two-year-long effort, funded by a grant from Wake Forest University, to assist our students in applying in their daily lives what they learn about virtue in our Core Curriculum, by cultivating one or more virtues through practice; to do this in a sustainable and replicable manner; and to ensure that all our materials are accessible to anyone, regardless of faith.
The Catholic tradition is committed to the flourishing of the human person. In that tradition, and in many others along with it, “virtue” means specifically those habits, those stable qualities, that aid a person to do good and to lead a happy and healthy life. How one understands the virtues depends upon one’s understanding of the human person. For the purposes of this project, and following Catholic tradition, we distinguish three broad areas of human life: action, knowledge, and the relationship to God.
Human action can further be divided into principal categories, with which the cardinal virtues are concerned. We must understand and engage with the world around us, and so there is the habit of making and implementing good choices, which is the virtue of practical wisdom (a.k.a. “prudence”). We have desires, some trivial, some profound, and so there is the habit of managing desires, coaxing them into the most productive directions, which is the virtue of self-discipline (a.k.a. “temperance”). We encounter obstacles, which provoke feelings of aversion and fear, and so there is the habit of responding well to those feelings, accepting but not being dominated by them, which is the virtue of courage (a.k.a. “fortitude”). And we live in a web of relationships, and so there is the habit of interacting well with others, which is the virtue of justice. Under these cardinal virtues there are various particular virtues.
Aside from the practical knowledge mentioned above, there are various forms of properly theoretical knowledge which are themselves excellent human achievements called intellectual virtues.
Finally, what people mean by the relationship to God will vary depending on their beliefs. But in so far as that relationship is real, it must engage the person in profound ways, and so one can talk about specific virtues, qualities of the person — analogous to those mentioned above — that must be strengthened in order for that relationship to flourish. In the Catholic tradition, sensitive to the reality of God’s agency, these qualities are understood as given by God, and oriented to him, while they inhere in and strengthen the person. These are called the theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity.
We have chosen to focus the project on the cultivation of eleven virtues (definitions and explanations of these virtues available here).
The chief work of the project will be done through coursework. All full-time faculty who teach undergraduates are invited to submit proposals for including the cultivation of one or another of these virtues in various courses. A catalog of suggested practices that can be adapted to many different courses is available here; faculty may adapt the suggested practices, or create new ones.
To submit a proposal, fill out a form available here. The proposal must include:
The deadline for submitting a proposal is 3/6/26. Proposals submitted after that date will be considered as funding allows.
The steering committee of the project will select which proposals to fund under the grant, and the program director will notify faculty whether or not their proposals have been accepted before the end of the semester. Over 100 proposals may be accepted.
Faculty whose proposals are accepted will receive a stipend to cover the work involved in incorporating the practice into a course (3, 5, or 10 days of work). Faculty may propose to repeat a practice that was funded by the project this year. Such proposals, if accepted, will receive a nominal stipend.
An in-person, all-day workshop will be held on Thursday, May 21. The first half of the workshop will focus on the nature of virtue and of the focus virtues of the project. The second half will involve breakout sessions to assist faculty in refining and implementing their proposed practices. All faculty whose proposals are accepted are expected to attend, unless an exception is granted. Faculty who attended the workshop last year need only attend the second half.
Our Mission: At Catholic University, it has always been our mission to care about the qualities of our students, not just their knowledge. Many colleges and universities have it as part of their mission to foster the development of the character of their students. This has received additional attention in recent years (as in Wake Forest’s “Educating Character Initiative,” which is the source of the funding for this project), but it has been part of Catholic University’s self-understanding from its founding.
Our Experience: Through the Core Curriculum, students at Catholic University receive an education in Philosophy and Theology that is strongly grounded in virtue tradition. In recent years, faculty in various schools and departments within the university have been experimenting with offering more formal character cultivation efforts in their courses, building on the strong theoretical grounding the students receive. We wish to go broader, and deeper. The present project allows us to extend these practices throughout the university in a way that we can hope will be transformative.
The Benefit to Our Students: The practice of the virtues will help our students integrate what they are learning in the Core Curriculum. Moreover, virtues are stable dispositions that enable the person to know and do what is good. Positive psychology research shows that developing any one of them allows one’s life to become calmer, more productive, more joyful, and healthier. Wanting these for our students is nothing less than wanting the best for them.
The Benefit to Other Institutions: As the project grows and refines, we will develop a model of how to cultivate virtue across an entire campus, which can be shared with other educational institutions, both faith-based and secular.
Any questions concerning the project, including the proposal process, should be directed to the program director, Dr. Greg LaNave ([email protected]). Dr. LaNave will host weekly informational Zoom sessions during the proposal preparation period (click on date to join the meeting):
Representatives of different schools from the steering committee are also available for consultation. Those representatives are: