Bellarmine University awarded prestigious $250,000 grant for its character education

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Bellarmine University was one of three universities nationwide to receive a $250,000 grant honoring it for its education in character and leadership.

Bellarmine said in a news release Friday it received the 2025 Educating Character Initiative Institutional Impact Grant from Wake Forest University. The university off Newburg Road in Louisville will use the three-year grant to launch a new program geared toward empathy, humility and openness to differences.

University leaders said they'll create nine new community-engaged courses to explore character development through hands-on engagement with Louisville-area nonprofits and community organizations.

"We're excited to take this next step in our work around character education and believe that the goals of the Educating Character Institute align perfectly with our mission as a Catholic liberal arts university to prepare students not only for successful careers, but also for lives rich in meaning and purpose," Jon Blandford, Bellarmine's assistant provost and the university's lead for the grant-funded initiative, said in a news release. "We are confident that our students and community partners will benefit from this project, and that it will strengthen our efforts to form the next generation of leaders of character who will serve our city, commonwealth, and region."

Jennifer Rothschild, director of the Educating Character Initiative, said in a news release the projects produced by the grant will show a vision for cultural change and affect students' live.

"We are excited to see how these and other institutions are helping to catalyze the movement to develop character across higher education," Rothschild said.

Ball State University was the only other institution in Kentucky or Indiana to be awarded. For more information on the grant, click here.

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