Shaping Character for Lives of Purpose Wendt Character Initiative
Learn More About the Wendt Center
Shaping Character
Grounded in the Golden Rule, we cultivate character virtues such as humility, compassion, integrity, respect, empathy, courage, justice, and stewardship, and bring our vision to life through four core pursuits that reflect the integration of head, heart, and hands.
About
Meaningful Change for the Common Good
By fostering a community where individuals learn, grow, and serve, we seek to create a more just and flourishing world.
About
Lives of Purpose
By integrating our head, heart, and hands, we ensure that our approach is both holistic and transformative, empowering individuals to grow in character and contribute meaningfully to their communities.
About
What's Happening
We've received a generous Institutional Impact grant from the Educating Character Initiative to support expanding our work in character development in 2025-2028! Read the announcement.
We've got big plans for the coming years and are updating our website to match! Please be patient and visit us again soon to check out what's new.
Peruse our Winter 2025-26 Newsletter for a look at what we've been up to lately!
Coming Up:
Opportunities for everyone
- February 9th, 2026, 7:00 p.m. - Travis Frampton, President of University of Dubuque, will deliver the Spring 2026 Michael Lester Wendt Character Lecture in John and Alice Butler Hall, Heritage Center. Free and open to the public!
Opportunities for UD Students
- January 28, 2026, 12:30pm - Strengths Lunch & Learn with Katie Bailey (RSVP to wendt@dbq.edu)
- Feb. 10, 2026 - Q&A with President Frampton (RSVP to wendt@dbq.edu)
- More group service projects planned - check out the Wendt Character Initiative page on Campus Groups in January to see upcoming projects!
Opportunities for UD faculty/Staff - Contact the Wendt Center to sign up at wendt@dbq.edu.
- Spring 2026 Book Discussions: The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson. Becky Canovan will lead our discussions.
- Spring 2026 9-week Personal Empowerment Training for Faculty and Staff: Liza Johnson and Anne Funke will lead the sessions.
New Directions for 2025-26:
- Wendt Character Ambassadors serve as character leaders to campus
- Pathways to Purpose Program engages students from all areas of campus
- Wendt Character Scholars move to cohort model
- Pop-up Festival led by Patti Freedman, Vice President of Six Seconds: The Emotional Intelligence Network