Villanova University Secures Significant Grant for Character Education Project
VILLANOVA, Pa. (July 29, 2025) – Villanova University has been awarded a three-year, $822,258 grant from the Educating Character Initiative (ECI) at Wake Forest University, funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. This grant is intended to enhance the incorporation of character education into undergraduate programs and align with the institution’s mission and culture. Villanova is among 33 higher education institutions to receive such funding.
Leading the charge at Villanova with the “Educating Augustinian Character: Cultivating the Pilgrim Virtues” initiative are Dr. Anna Bonta Moreland and Dr. Michael Tomko. Both professors, affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, are tasked with steering various projects motivated by research from the character education movement and St. Augustine’s “pilgrim virtues,” which include humility, forgiveness, patience, wonder, and conviviality.
The initiative will be coordinated through the Department of Humanities, the University Honors Program, and The Augustinian Institute, allowing Villanova to expand its educational mission. Planned activities include faculty and staff workshops, an “Augustinian Ambassadors” program for students, an enhanced lecture series on vocation and purpose, and a collaborative fellowship program with Eastern University and the University of Pennsylvania. Moreover, curricular updates will be introduced to deepen Augustinian character formation.
“This grant gives us the capacity to expand our efforts to advance our formative programming in a way that’s robustly Augustinian, while also bringing in the fruits of a larger national conversation around universities and character education,” stated Dr. Moreland. “We are deeply grateful to the Educating Character Initiative for their support, and we are really hopeful about what Villanova can contribute to this larger national discourse on character education.”
Dr. Tomko added, “There’s something unique about the way Villanova approaches character education—and the way that the Augustinian tradition enables us to take on this task. And some of the preliminary excitement about what we’re highlighting, particularly the five ‘pilgrim virtues,’ has been incredibly gratifying.”
Both Dr. Moreland and Dr. Tomko bring significant experience to the initiative. Dr. Moreland has previously led projects like “Hope in Higher Education,” which focused on developing leadership skills among students. Dr. Tomko is well-versed in character education within Catholic and Augustinian frameworks and has taught various related courses.
Before this grant, Drs. Moreland and Tomko worked together on “Augustinian Leadership and Character Education Beyond First-Year Experience,” a project funded by a $48,090 Capacity Building Grant from the ECI.
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