ATHENS, Ohio — Ohio University will spend the next three years weaving community service across Appalachian Ohio into its classrooms after winning a $510,520 grant to expand character education, the university announced this week. The Institutional Impact Grant from the Educating Character Initiative will fund a project called “Character Education in Appalachian Ohio,” built around place-based learning and service meant to cultivate hope, compassion, humility and courage among undergraduate students.
The Educating Character Initiative is a project of the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University, made possible by support from Lilly Endowment Inc., according to Ohio University. The Athens project was one of 44 that received Institutional Impact Grants from the initiative in 2026.
“I’m excited that the Honors Tutorial College will serve as the hub for new approach character education at Ohio University,” Dean Kristina Bross said in Ohio University’s announcement. “The grant will help us build on historic strengths and deepen our commitment to OU’s mission to equip students to learn and to serve,” Bross said in the university’s announcement.
The work will be led by project directors Chris Lewis and Mary Kate Hurley, according to Ohio University. It builds on existing honors service-learning courses and expands character education into additional general education offerings. Students will work directly with community partners in the region, including Passion Works Studio, Rural Action and the Southeast Ohio History Center, through experiences that connect classroom learning with the people, organizations and challenges of Appalachian Ohio. Planned work includes adapting 12 sections of an existing honors service-learning course and nine sections of general education courses.
Ohio University expects the initiative to directly reach approximately 1,170 students during the grant period, which runs from August 2026 through July 2029, according to the university. After the grant period, the project aims to reach 15 percent of Ohio University sophomores with a character education course in a single year.
The grant will also support professional development for faculty and graduate student instructors through communities of practice, and work toward a new undergraduate certificate in “Character and the Good Life,” according to Ohio University. “We were overwhelmed by the quality of the proposals we received this year,” Jennifer Rothschild, director of the Educating Character Initiative, said in Ohio University’s announcement. “It is exciting to see so many institutions developing character projects rooted in their own identities and missions. We have so much to learn from these projects,” Rothschild said in the university’s announcement.
For Athens and the surrounding Appalachian counties, the practical effect is more students volunteering, interning and learning inside local nonprofits and cultural organizations over the next three years, with regional symposia and a culminating collaborative workshop bringing educators and community partners together to share what works. What happens next is the build-out: adapted course sections, the new certificate pathway and expanded partnerships rolling out across the grant period through July 2029, with Ohio University’s Honors Tutorial College coordinating the effort from Athens.