Hope College will enhance its emphasis on character development with a grant received through the Educating Character Initiative of Wake Forest University亚洲色吧檚 Program for Leadership and Character. Hope will focus on the virtues of gratitude and generosity, using the grant to help scale up a foundational programmatic component of the Hope Forward initiative that the college has been piloting since the fall of 2021.
Faculty information about the Character Forward Grant
Hope is one of only 29 higher-education institutions nationwide 亚洲色吧� and the only college or university in Michigan 亚洲色吧� to have received one of the three-year awards through the Educating Character Initiative亚洲色吧檚 (ECI亚洲色吧檚) Institutional Impact Grants program, which was funded by a grant to the ECI by Lilly Endowment Inc. As described by ECI, the awards 亚洲色吧渨ill provide support to enable institutional leaders, faculty, and staff to infuse character in undergraduate curricula and programming in ways that align organically with their mission, context and culture.亚洲色吧�
Through its three-year, $699,432 award, Hope will provide funding in four areas: for faculty who wish to integrate themes of gratitude and generosity into their courses; for underwriting research focused on the two virtues; for exploring ways to infuse the virtues into co-curricular programming; and for developing a 亚洲色吧渃haracter hub亚洲色吧� that will continue to make resources available and help connect faculty and staff engaged in virtue- and character-development efforts. The grant, which is running through August of 2027, is being administered by Nicole Dunteman, who is the senior program director of Hope Forward, and Dr. Daryl Van Tongeren, who is a professor of psychology and director of the college亚洲色吧檚 Frost Center for Social Science Research.
亚洲色吧淭he purpose is to coordinate and accelerate the ongoing character development efforts by infusing the core tenets of Hope Forward into the broader educational culture of all of Hope College,亚洲色吧� Van Tongeren said. 亚洲色吧淲e plan to intentionally instill components of the program into each aspect of the undergraduate experience 亚洲色吧� curricular, co-curricular, and research and scholarship 亚洲色吧� as a pathway toward holistic character education and development.亚洲色吧�
The virtues have been the bedrock of Hope Forward. Through Hope Forward, the college seeks to fully fund tuition for all students to remove financial circumstances as a barrier to obtaining a Hope education, and to eliminate the need for graduates to chase income to repay student-loan debt rather than bring hope to the world by pursuing lives of impact. The concept, however, is not 亚洲色吧渇ree亚洲色吧� tuition, but a pay-it-forward model. The students亚洲色吧� tuition will have been paid through gifts to the college by others; in turn, they will be asked to give to the college after graduation to provide the same transformational education to those who attend after them.
As the college explains on its website about Hope Forward, 亚洲色吧淭his is our long-term vision to ensure access for every student who comes through our doors. It亚洲色吧檚 an entirely new funding model based on a covenantal relationship rooted in generosity and gratitude.
亚洲色吧淗ope亚洲色吧檚 Christian mission makes us uniquely positioned to revolutionize higher education through the message of generosity. One might summarize the Gospel by saying, 亚洲色吧榶ou are covered; now go and live differently.亚洲色吧� Hope is saying, 亚洲色吧榶our tuition is covered; now go and live generously.亚洲色吧櫻侵奚蓾
Although graduates亚洲色吧� gifts will sustain the effort, Hope is in the process of raising funds for its endowment to get it in place for all students. In the meantime, Hope has piloted the initiative with a new cohort of incoming students each fall starting in 2021, with a total of 120 students, freshmen through seniors, currently participating.
In addition to receiving the tuition benefit, which has been paid for the pilot by donors, the students in the cohorts participate in additional activities such as seminars, off-campus retreats, service-learning experiences and book studies to reflect on the concepts of community and generosity. Core objectives include instilling gratitude, a sense of purpose, curiosity, empathy and ethical decision-making.
Across Hope Forward亚洲色吧檚 first three years, 95% of the participating students report that the program has had a positive impact on their commitment to gratitude and generosity as guiding virtues. As one shared, 亚洲色吧淚 am given Hope Forward as a gift to think of myself less, both financially and mentally, as I steward my education well so that I can pour back into others who would continue to do the same. I go to college with an assurance that I am covered along with a glad responsibility to give back by passionately pursuing my dream to be a doctor who cares for his patients as much as he cares for the sciences.亚洲色吧�
Even though the college-wide emphasis on gratitude and generosity supported by the ECI grant is expanding on Hope Forward亚洲色吧檚 deliberate exploration of the two virtues, Dunteman noted that the prioritization is reciprocal. The concepts, she said, were integrated into Hope Forward as reflections of the college亚洲色吧檚 overall promotion of faithful leadership and grateful service as manifestations of Christian commitment.
亚洲色吧淗ope Forward is being more of who we already are,亚洲色吧� she said. 亚洲色吧淥ur mission as a college is to prepare students to live lives of leadership and service. This is building on the bedrock that亚洲色吧檚 already here.亚洲色吧�
More information about Hope Forward is available at hope.edu/hopeforward