In an age shaped by social media, polarized news, and the rise of artificial intelligence, educators are asking important questions: What traits and virtues should we nurture in our students? What is the true purpose of an education? What do we want them to learn, and how do we want them to experience the classroom?
Loyola Marymount University is one of only 33 colleges and universities nationwide awarded an Institutional Impact Grant through Wake Forest University’s Educating Character Initiative, funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. Philosophy Professors Jason Baehr and Daniel Speak will lead the $943,668, three-year project aimed at weaving intellectual virtues into the heart of an LMU undergraduate education. Their “Intellectual Character Initiative: Cultivating the Virtues of the Lion Mind” focuses on fostering curiosity, open-mindedness, intellectual humility, intellectual courage, and intellectual perseverance.
“We believe that cultivating good intellectual character is really about the only practical route to helping students learn to deal with the challenges of contemporary education and society – neither ignoring them nor thoughtlessly embracing them,” Speak said.
Students who have cultivated intellectual perseverance will be prepared to make the most of their intellectual abilities rather than rely on AI to do their thinking for them. Likewise, intellectually courageous students will have the confidence to think for themselves and resist propaganda. Beyond meeting challenges like AI and misinformation, cultivating strong intellectual character is key to career readiness and living a meaningful, fulfilling life.
Data shows that career changes are becoming increasingly common as industries undergo rapid transformation, unlike any other time in history. To remain adaptable in this environment, individuals must continually acquire new skills and expand their knowledge base.
Success in this landscape requires cultivating intellectual virtues that sustain lifelong learning. Curiosity fuels the pursuit of fresh ideas and opportunities. Open-mindedness enables individuals to consider diverse perspectives and innovative solutions. Intellectual humility fosters a willingness to learn from mistakes and others’ expertise. Intellectual courage empowers workers to take risks, challenge assumptions, and resist misinformation. Finally, intellectual perseverance equips them to endure setbacks and persist through complex problems. Together, these qualities prepare students to navigate rapid career changes while empowering them to thrive in a world where continuous growth is essential.
Beyond career advantages, an education that cultivates intellectual character enriches the whole person. These virtues extend far beyond the classroom, serving students throughout their lives as they develop relationships, build families, and participate in civic life. It makes them more interesting people.
“As one university president puts it: ‘You want the inside of your head to be an interesting place [in which] to spend the rest of your life,’” said Speak. “Virtues like curiosity, open-mindedness, and intellectual courage help to make that possible.”
So, what does it mean to integrate intellectual virtues into the classroom and curriculum? Take, for instance, a course in “Symbolic Logic.” This highly technical class builds skills for rigorous reasoning in philosophy, law, and politics. Yet, students often face a temptation: to use these new tools for manipulation and intellectual coercion. Ideally, though, the goal is for students to love truth and understanding and to embrace the rigors of learning for growth in their intellectual character.
To accomplish this, faculty could pair standard instruction with readings that highlight virtues such as curiosity, intellectual humility, intellectual tenacity, carefulness, honesty, etc. Students then write short reflections on a particular intellectual virtue that is personally challenging them as they learn the skills of symbolic logic.
More importantly, the classroom experience itself offers opportunities to practice these virtues. For example, by incorporating an activity where students are asked to work out proofs in front of the class, they will inevitably face mistakes and must confront their intellectual fears. In doing so, they exercise intellectual courage and begin to see how the difficulty of the material provides a chance to build perseverance.
What do these intellectual virtues look like in action? Speak recounts this recent experience with a student in his rigorous “Philosophical Ethics” course. This student, faced with some early setbacks and challenges with the material, was openly and reasonably considering the wisdom of dropping the class before the withdrawal deadline. After some thoughtful deliberation, she sent him an email with the following lines: “Although I didn’t improve as much as I hoped [on the second exam], I moved in the right direction, and that is reassuring and provided me with encouragement for future assignments.” She continued: “If I continue to practice and get assistance, then maybe I can improve yet again. So, I’m going to stay in the class. To be honest, I feel like this course is more of a life lesson for me. I’m used to doing excellent work and getting high grades. I am being challenged in this class, but I think it’s good for me both educationally and personally. Dropping will rob me of whatever life lesson of tenacity is being offered.” Intellectual perseverance at work!
Baehr and Speak plan to develop programming throughout the grant aimed at inspiring and empowering faculty to develop courses and content that emphasize curiosity, open-mindedness, intellectual courage, and the rest. During the 2025-26 academic year, they will launch Faculty Learning Communities with regular reading groups exploring intellectual virtue pedagogy, as well as stipend-based summer workshops designed as immersive “bootcamps” for faculty and academic leaders. This first year will pilot the initiative in partnership with the University Honors Program and other early adopters, laying the foundation for broader campus engagement.
In year two, the program will expand to include course development and revision grants, helping faculty redesign curricula to emphasize intellectual character formation. The initiative will also build a vibrant community of practice around these themes, leading into a second summer workshop.
By the third year, the hope is to refine the program based on lessons learned and integrate its core ideas into university-wide conversations. This will culminate in the 2027-28 Bellarmine Forum centered on the theme “Intellectual Virtues and the Common Good.”
“Our university is filled with dedicated teachers who are inspiring and innovative,” said Speak. “What we hope is that many of them will see in our project a thoughtful and empowering expression of what they have all along been seeking to accomplish.”
Baehr has built his academic career around virtue epistemology and its application to education. His work has gained recognition not only among philosophers and psychologists of education but also among K–12 educators. Notably, he is the founder of the Intellectual Virtues Academy of Long Beach, a nationally recognized charter school. Speak’s research centers on free will, moral responsibility, and the philosophy of religion, with virtue epistemology playing a consistent and influential role in his teaching and mentoring.
“We see potent overlaps in our respective areas of research that make it a great deal of fun to be working together on this project,” said Speak.