Institute for the Study of Human Flourishing

Join the OU Carceral Studies Consortium via Zoom for a moderated discussion about race, police and the state. We will discuss short pieces by Keeangha-Yamahtta Taylor, Allissa Richardson and Stuart Schrader.

• Moderated by Alex Finkelstein
• Tues. July 7 at 12:30 pm AND Thurs. July 9 at 6:30 pm (Join for the session that is most convenient for you)Registration: https://bit.ly/3ehHZbt
• For questions or to request accommodations, please contact alex.finkelstein@ou.edu
• For information about the Carcral Studies Consortium please visit https://architecture.ou.edu/csc/
  

Digital networking and algorithms are transforming the ways we make decisions and interact with one another. In 2018, scholars at the University of Oxford launched a research project  to promote human flourishing in this evolving technological landscape.

Today, the choice is not between citizens and machines, it is about identifying and protecting humans’ uniqueness as moral decision-makers.

Please join Dr. Nancy Snow as she discusses Trust, Unity & Democracy in the Networked Aged.   https://citizenshipinanetworkedage.org/

The Institute congratulates Ms. Jessica Eschbach, teacher-librarian at Kennedy Elementary School, for being named the Norman Public School District Teacher of the Year!

We congratulate Ms. Jessica Bigbee of Washington Elementary School for being named the Norman Public School District Special Education Teacher of the Year! 

We congratulate Ms. Wendy Trott, teacher-librarian at Irving Middle School, for being named Site Teacher of the Year at Irving Middle School!

All three of these schools partner with the Institute, and all three of these exceptional teachers have been leaders in virtue implementation initiatives at their schools.  We are honored to work with them.

We have two new postdoctoral fellowships with the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest, one in collaboration with the Department of Computer Science and another in collaboration with the Department of Engineering. They are supported by grants from the Lilly Endowment and Kern Family Foundation, respectively. 
Links to the full job descriptions are below:

• Teacher-Scholar Postdoctoral Fellow, Program for Leadership and Character and Department of Computer Science
• Character Education Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Engineering

If you know of colleagues or students who might be interested in applying, we would appreciate your help spreading the word.

Please see this important report on Citizenship in a Networked Age : https://citizenshipinanetworkedage.org/

Dear Friends,

I hope you are well and safe during this troubled time.  I'm writing to let you know that, in accordance with University of Oklahoma policy, all Institute events have been canceled through July 2020.  This means that we will not be hosting Krista Tippett this April, but we will be rescheduling this event in the future.  In addition, all Virtue Forum luncheons have been canceled until the fall.  

On a more positive note, Dr. James Sidanius of Harvard University will be speaking as part of our "Faith, Civic Virtue, and Public Life" series in the fall on Thursday, October 15.  In addition, we will be scheduling events celebrating the fifth year anniversary of the Institute.  Please stay tuned for further developments!  

I wish you peace, hope, and resilience!

All best, 

Nancy

Nancy E. Snow

Professor of Philosophy

Director of the Institute for the Study of Human Flourishing

The University of Oklahoma

Oxford Character Project is recruiting five University of Oxford postdoctoral fellows (four Research Fellows and a Psychology Research Fellow) to work on a 3-year, Templeton-funded project, exploring the intersection between character formation, leadership development and institutional culture in four specific sectors: business, finance, law and technology. We will conduct research in these industries and design and deliver character and leadership development programmes for professional education in the university and beyond.

Entitled, "Virtues and Vocations”, the project's research is intended to advance theoretical and practical knowledge of character formation as it concerns the focal sectors. Our work will be thoroughly interdisciplinary, considering philosophical, theological, psychological, educational, and sociological aspects of character virtue development. The project builds on the existing work of the Oxford Character Project. It will be housed in the Faculty of Theology and Religion and work in conjunction with faculty from relevant Oxford departments as well as industry partners.

Each postholder will be responsible for carrying out research and developing and piloting character and leadership development programmes in one of the project's four focal sectors. 

Successful candidates will hold, or be close to completion of a relevant doctorate in philosophical, theological, psychological, educational or sociological accounts of human character and virtue with relevant knowledge of at least one of the industry sectors and a demonstrable research interest in character and leadership development. 

If interested in applying please check the following links. Research Fellow (4 posts); Psychology Research Fellow (1 post). 

We would love to see you at This I Believe: OU on Tuesday, Feb. 18^th from 3:30-5 p.m. in Meacham Auditorium, located in the Oklahoma Memorial Union. For more information on this event please go to ou.edu/thisibelieve.

If you are conducting research on any aspect of leadership, teamwork, diversity, inclusion, or related topics, you are invited to present a poster at the Holmes Leadership Symposium on Thursday, Feb. 27, at the Oklahoma Memorial Union. The symposium is a biennial event hosted by the Jerry Holmes Leadership Program at OU's Gallogly College of Engineering. This year’s theme is Leadership for a Changing World, and we will be exploring various aspects of diversity in leadership.

If you’d like to participate, please email jhlp@ou.edu with the title of your research and a brief synopsis. Include "Symposium Poster Session” as the subject line. We are interested in research related to any of the items on our list of leadership capabilities (http://www.ou.edu/content/dam/CoE/COE/JHLP/JHLP%20Capabilities%202017.pdf) and we are especially interested in work that explores the intersection of these topics with diversity and inclusion. 

The grad student poster session will be held in conjunction with the evening reception at 5:00 PM in the OMU Governor’s Room. We hope you will make plans to attend other symposium events as well. This year's event will open with a lunchtime plenary address by Dr. Robin Minthorn, associate professor at the University of Washington Tacoma and an expert in Native American leadership. Terri Kelly, retired CEO of W. L. Gore and Associates, will give the keynote address over dinner. The day will include workshops, invited talks, and panel discussions, all related to the theme. The symposium is open to the public and will be relevant for a broad audience, from students to experienced professionals. Register and read more about the symposium at http://www.ou.edu/coe/student_life/leadership/events/symposium2020

Virtue ethics, one of the most influential recent approaches to ethics, is founded on the Aristotelian idea of eudaimonia, having developed one’s potentialities. Eudaimonia so conceived, is to most virtue ethicists the goal of human life.

In order to achieve this goal, virtue ethicists say (and in saying that they also follow Aristotle), we need to develop ethical virtues, i.e., stable dispositions to perform morally good action, or in, other words, a morally good character. It is the realization of these virtues that constitutes the perfection of a human being as human being.

The above characterization of virtues is quite general, one can still ask about many important issues relating to the idea of eudaimonia, the central one being the one of human development. Thus, during our conference, we want to raise the following questions: How should human development be understood? How should we understand eudaimonia in the contemporary world? Is perfecting moral character necessary for achieving eudaimonia? What is the role of epistemic, executive, social or political virtues? Do virtues always enhance human development or do they, at least sometimes, impede it?

Learn more here or for information on speakers here.

Wake Forest University is seeking to expand its Program for Leadership and Character by hiring six new staff to assist with student programming, research, and assessment. The positions are funded by a grant from the Lilly Endowment to develop leaders of character at Wake Forest and support other colleges and universities who seek to infuse leadership and character on their campuses. Dedicated, creative, and collaborative colleagues are sought for the following positions: 

·         Senior Research Scholar (apply here)

·         Assistant Director of Leadership and Character in the Professional Schools (apply here)

·         Assistant Director of Programming for Leadership and Character in the College (apply here)

·         Assistant Director of Programming for Leadership and Character in Religious Life (apply here)

·         Program Manager (apply here)

·         Administrative Assistant (apply here)

Wake Forest University is a private, coeducational institution dedicated to academic excellence in liberal arts and in graduate and professional education. Located in Winston-Salem, NC (“The City of Arts and Innovation”), the University is ranked among the top thirty national universities by U.S. News and World Report. The University has a deep institutional commitment to public service and engagement with the world, as indicated by the motto Pro Humanitate (for humanity), which encourages students to develop the qualities of human character needed to serve humanity. With the aim to educate the whole person, the University has established an innovative Program for Leadership and Character that helps students develop the character needed to lead in an increasingly complex world. The program is based on cutting-edge academic research on leadership and character, including research conducted by Wake Forest faculty who are leading experts on the study of character. The program has established a partnership with the Oxford Character Project and has been profiled as a model for how universities can educate character. The program recently received a grant from the Lilly Endowment to develop leaders of character at Wake Forest and support other colleges and universities who seek to infuse leadership and character on their campuses. For quick facts about the University, see http://www.wfu.edu/visitors/quickfacts.html. For more on the Program for Leadership and Character, see https://leadershipandcharacter.wfu.edu/. For articles highlighting Wake Forest’s commitment to leadership and character, see https://magazine.wfu.edu/current-issue/.

Please apply at https://hr.wfu.edu/careers/.

The Department of Philosophy is seeking an individual for a tenure-track assistant professor position or early associate professor position with tenure, beginning fall 2020. If you are interested in learning more please go to the following link - https://philjobs.org/job/show/14234.

On October 26, 2019, the Institute for the Study of Human Flourishing held a Strategic Plan Implementation Workshop at Norman North High School for educators from Kennedy Elementary School, Washington Elementary School, Longfellow Middle School, Irving Middle School, Norman High School, and Norman North High School. Funded by the John Templeton Foundation and led by the Institute’s Assessment Coordinator, Dr. Michael Warren, the workshop provided leadership teams with an overview of the first 12 months of strategic plans that were collaboratively developed by ISHF and school principals. Each school’s strategic plan includes 6-10 virtue-related activities (e.g., weekly in-class virtue lessons, developing an extracurricular virtue program, etc.), a timeline for implementing the activities, and an assessment plan that involves collecting data from students, teachers, and leadership teams.   

Beyond providing leadership teams with this essential information, the workshop offered: (1) a brief presentation by Dr. Nancy Snow on virtue and virtue education, (2) a structured process for refining virtue definitions to better connect with students’ experiences, (3) time to meet with their team to plan the implementation of their school’s strategic plan, (4) resources for integrating virtues education into the classroom, and (5) opportunities to share their school’s virtue education efforts with other schools in the district.   

The workshop was attended by 29 educators, including principals, assistant principals, librarians, counselors, and teachers of various grade levels and with various areas of subject expertise. At the close of the workshop, attendees completed a survey that assessed how well key workshop objectives were achieved. Findings indicated that attendees thought the workshop was successful in achieving all five objectives, and the workshop either met or exceeded all attendees’ expectations. In addition, educators indicated that they especially valued the focused, designated time to work with colleagues on their own leadership teams, and they left the workshop thinking about how to build a greater sense of buy-in from other colleagues to help ensure that the virtues initiative has staying power.

The Institute for the Study of Human Flourishing (ISHF) seeks a PhD-level research associate with expertise in evaluation to continue our work with six Norman Public Schools.  The Civic Virtues Project is being done in collaboration with educators from three of these schools to integrate compassion, fairness, and civility into their teaching.  This project will end on May 31, 2021. The Longitudinal Virtues Project (with four of these schools) and Five Year Strategic Planning Projects (with all six partner schools) has recently started and will continue for the next 15 months.  In addition, the position requires assessment of ISHF events and participation in the Kern Family Foundation Partners in Character and Educational Leadership.  Duties will include designing and administering surveys, analyzing data, and compiling reports; interacting with educators to devise and integrate strategies for cultivating virtue into their teaching and curricula; revising a Teacher's Guide to Civic Virtue, and compiling and revising a Teacher's Guide to Intellectual Virtue.  This work will done under the supervision of and in collaboration with the ISHF Director, Dr. Nancy Snow.  The salary is $50,000/year plus benefits, with supplemental pay not to exceed $12,000.  This work can be done remotely. 

For more information and to apply, please go to https://jobs.ou.edu/ and reference job #193317.

On July 31st and August 1st, the Institute for the Study of Human Flourishing hosted a Civic Virtues Workshop at the University of Oklahoma. Led by the Institute’s Assessment Coordinator, Dr. Michael Warren, the workshop provided middle and high school teachers with an overview of a semester-long quasi-experimental study in which teachers will deliver in-class lessons on civility, compassion, and fairness. A draft of the Teachers’ Guide to Civic Virtues—a working document with over 65 virtue activities—was shared with the teachers and served as a foundation for the creation of developmentally sensitive virtue lessons. After constructing concrete lesson plans that will be implemented throughout fall 2019, teachers were briefed on an assessment plan by which the efficacy of the virtue lessons will be evaluated according to how well they foster the development of civic virtues in students’ lives. The event was rounded out with a brief lecture by Dr. Nancy Snow on the relevance of civic virtues in the lives of students, and by a sample lesson presented by Dr. Pamela Pittman-Adkins from Norman North High School. 

The workshop was attended by educators from Norman High School, Norman North High School, and Irving Middle School. In addition, school counselors, administrators, and officials from Norman Public Schools district participated. At the close of the workshop, attendees completed a survey that assessed how well key workshop objectives were achieved. A forthcoming assessment report is in progress to document the survey results. Teachers will begin in-class virtue lessons during the week of August 20, when the new school year begins.

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