Austin Community College District (ACC) selected eight faculty members to participate in the first Faculty Institute for Transforming the Faculty & Student Experience: A Framework for Growing Character. The multi-year initiative is supported by a $781,200 Institutional Impact Grant from Wake Forest University’s Educating Character Initiative.
The selected faculty represent a wide range of disciplines that anchor ACC’s core curriculum:
- Bryan Port – History
- Jaime Cantú – Biology
- Eli Ryder – Creative Writing
- Dania Dwyer – Composition & Literary Studies
- Melissa Foote – Philosophy
- Marilyn Wells – Physics
- Kathy Frost – Psychology
- Laura Cortes Franco – Student Development
These faculty will lead the first phase of the three-year effort to integrate character education into general education coursework. The initiative aims to help students build intellectual, civic, and moral capacities that support success in college, career, and life. Kelly Greenwood from Mathematics, Ted Hadzi-Antich from Government, and Arun John from Composition and Literary Studies are spearheading this effort at the college.
ACC is one of only two community colleges selected in the nation to receive this recognition. This milestone advances the work first announced in July.