Celebrating Good Character
Athletes
22 athletes were honored as Character Athletes for each sport, with Hunter Preston and Kaitlyn Powell selected as the Character Athletes of the Year. Congratulations!
View a full list of our 2025 Character Athletes for each sport
Character Scholars
At our Spring awards banquet, we honored Character Scholars who are completing their time in the program as well as those who had gone above and beyond in serving the community.
In all, our Character Scholars provided more than 1900 hours of service to the community in 2024-25!
Faculty and Staff
Congratulations to Shea Chapin, recipient of the Faculty and Staff Character Award!
Students nominated faculty and staff who have made an impact on character formation here on campus, and shared their reasons for their nominations:
"I am nominating Professor Chapin because of the impact she makes on her students. She strives for personal growth, mental health awareness, and opportunities for her students. For example, Professor Chapin has helped us navigate creating our own Criminal Justice Club. She also promotes a fun, safe, and educational environment in all of her classes. I know that I can go to her office for anything school (questions or help), personal (opportunities or future help), or mental health (cry or laugh) related things. Shea Chapin is a wonderful human being, and an even better professor!"
"Professor Chapin is so kind and checks up on the people in her class everyday and shows so much joy when teaching all of her classes overall is a really good person and does so much to make class enjoyable."
We honored all the nominees for the Faculty and Staff Character Award at our Open House in March. It was inspiring to see the wonderful things students had to say about UD faculty and staff!
We also highlighted character projects that faculty and staff are leading that directly impact a variety of students, disciplines, and areas on campus, with the support of Wendt grants. Projects funded by the Wendt Center this year included the Cuba Service Learning trip, the Icelandic Culture and Character trip, the trip to Korea focused on its culture and criminal justice system, Franklin Yartey's paper, "Chess Speaks for Itself: Chess Cheating Scandal," and the Student Storytelling Showcase. Highlights and quotes from the students about the projects give a glimpse of their impact.
Anne Funke, Director of World View Studies, was selected by the student body to receive the Inclusive Excellence Award for 2024-25, for her commitment to inclusion and equity within the UD community. Congratulations on the well-deserved recognition, Anne!
Dan Fleming has served as a mentor to Character Scholars for the past three years. As he moves on, we thank him for sharing his time, talents, and wisdom!
Character Lecture
Jon Turbett, Special Agent with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, delivered the Spring 2025 Michael Lester Wendt Character Lecture. He spoke about "Character Without Compartments," and shared his experiences as an investigator of violent crimes as well as a pastor, father, and husband.
Jon challenged us to break down the walls between the different parts of our lives, encouraging deeper, more authentic relationships with others.
Jon spoke extensively with audience members after the lecture, had dinner with criminal justice students, and then returned to UD campus the next morning to visit with classes and have lunch with more UD students.
Character Scholars
Building Character Skills
This spring, Character Scholars prepared character skill-building sessions for each other. Mentor groups selected a topic and prepared information and activities designed to encourage thoughtful engagement with the topic.
The groups led sessions on "Character and Discerning Who We Want to Be," "Navigating Failure with Compassion Through School, Sports, and Life," "Building Compassionate Relationships," "Teamwork," and "The Language of Mental Health."
Sessions consisted not only of helpful information, but interactive and hands-on elements, such as developing real-time elevator pitches, discussing case studies, and diving into team-building exercises, which helped us think creatively and engage more deeply.
Game Night
Our spring meetings weren't all work and no play! Recognizing that growing a sense of community is vital for building connections that inspire collaboration and shared purpose, we planned one meeting to be devoted entirely to playing games and enjoying each other's company.
Scholars and mentors alike had a blast. Community time will definitely continue to be part of the schedule!
Wendt Center Updates
New Faculty Read–The Character Gap
Liza Johnson facilitated two sessions centered on The Character Gap, leading discussions on how character serves as a foundational value at the University of Dubuque.
Wendt Spring Read–How to Know a Person
Two groups of faculty and staff discussed How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen by David Brooks. Our discussion groups had stimulating conversation around the skills, mindsets, and benefits of developing meaningful and healthy relationships.
Personal Empowerment Training
A total of 12 faculty and staff members participated in Personal Empowerment training, which utilizes the same curriculum as the 3-credit undergraduate Personal Empowerment course. This initiative is helping to establish a shared language among students, faculty, and staff—fostering meaningful relationships and supporting our goal of becoming an emotionally intelligent campus.
DAYLC presentation on Character and Leadership
The University of Dubuque recently hosted the Dubuque Area Youth Leadership Council (DAYLC), a nonprofit organization committed to empowering the next generation of leaders. Sixty local high school students were selected to attend this one-day leadership conference on campus.
As part of the event, Liza Johnson led a session on Character and Leadership, exploring the values and skills essential for impactful leadership. Adding to the experience, DAYLC participants connected with UD undergraduate students from the Personal Empowerment course, sparking thoughtful conversations and meaningful dialogue among emerging leaders.
Conferences
American Association of Colleges and Universities
Liza Johnson, Jeremey Jensen (Chief of Police), and Rick Fullmer (lieutenant) along with others from other professionals across public and private sectors, including higher education, coalitions, and community and municipal partners facilitated a session called “Design Community Partnerships for Student Thriving and Learning” at their annual meeting in January 2025.
SEL Conference
A group of personal empowerment instructors and the Wendt team participated in the Social and Emotional Learning Conference to be part of the ongoing dialogue on ways to promote the social, emotional, and behavioral health of students and educators in ways that advance equity and excellence in education.
Coalition for Transformational Education National Conference
Anne Funke attended the National Conference of the Coalition for Transformational Education in Miami, a gathering of leaders, educators, and innovators who are examining higher education's current challenges and finding ways forward. She built connections and brought back new resources to explore.
Virtues and Vocations Conference in June
Through our NetVUE grant, we are able to send 7 faculty and staff to the Virtues and Vocations conference hosted at Notre Dame May 20-22. These faculty and staff have been meeting regularly to discuss vocation since the fall gathering at Loras College.
World View Corner
Worldview Seminar 101
Approximately 280 students attended Captain Tammi Jo Shults' presentation on character in Fall 2024, and approximately 250 students attended Jon Turbett's presentation in Spring 2025. The inclusion of attending the Wendt Character Lecture series was new this year, and we're glad to have engaged Worldview students in this way and plan to continue.
All students read Life Worth Living and explored the big ideas surrounding what makes a life purposeful, meaningful, and worthwhile. This text will once again be included in the fall for Worldview Seminar 101 students.
Worldview Seminar 201
This spring alone, students in 17 sections of Worldview Seminar 201 engaged in nearly 2,230 hours of service in our community. Some of the community partnerships built include: Opening Doors, Wolter Woods & Prairie, Multicultural Family Center, Shalom Retreat Center, Hills and Dales, Boys and Girls Club, Project Rooted, ResourcesUnite, Dubuque Rescue Mission, United Way, and the Dubuque Food Pantry, to name a few.
Students read a variety of texts that highlighted stories of vocation, purpose, calling, global citizenship, and service. Amongst the Worldview Seminar 201 student cohort, the following texts were read and explored: Tattoos on the Heart (Fr. Greg Boyle), Saving Us (Katharine Hayhoe), Well (Sarah Thebarge), Dignity (Chris Arnade), Born a Crime (Trevor Noah).
A Note from Anne Funke on Vocation and NetVUE
As we close out the first year in NetVUE's Program Development grant, there are many successes to highlight thus far.
First, I want to acknowledge the work of a newly formed advisory committee to inform and construct more meaningful ways to explore vocation specifically in Worldview Seminar 201. A note of gratitude toward the following members of this group who have helped shape the work of the grant thus far: Jon Barz (English), Rafic Sinno (Business), Mary Emily Duba (Theology), Emily Rollins (Director of Career, Vocation, and Community Engagement), and Amy Baus (Psychology).
Second, we've revised the approach to students' service experience that takes place in Worldview Seminar 201. Specifically, a relationship with the City of Dubuque Volunteer Coordinator has been fruitful in exploring opportunities for meaningful collaborative efforts between Worldview students and local non-profits. Changes to students' service experience will take place in the 2025-26 academic year.
—Anne Funke, Director of World View Studies
Announcements
Don't miss these upcoming Wendt Center events!
Exploring Vocation: Professional Development Opportunity on May 12
Dr. Deirdre Egan-Ryan of St. Norbert College will be coming to lead a faculty/staff professional development opportunity on Monday, May 12 from 12-2:30 pm. This is funded through NetVUE, and the workshop's focus will be vocation exploration on our campus: we'll use UD's definition of vocation to discuss and identify with colleagues where we're seeing this work take place, and where we can be more intentional in supporting our students' vocation exploration beyond the Worldview Seminar course series. We are excited to host Dr. Egan-Ryan for this opportunity, and we invite faculty and staff who are interested in attending to RSVP by Wednesday, May 7, to Anne Funke at AFunke@dbq.edu.
Fall 2025 Preview
Unveiling Our New Vision, Approach, and the Four Pursuits
The Wendt team is excited to introduce the Center’s renewed vision, approach, and our guiding framework: the Four Pursuits. This new direction reflects our ongoing commitment to character, community, and purpose.
There will be many opportunities to engage with this work throughout the fall—beginning with the Teaching and Learning Conference and continuing through a variety of events and initiatives. We look forward to connecting with you and exploring this together.
Introducing Wendt Character Ambassadors for 2025-26
In August we will engage six alumni of the Character Scholars Program as Character Ambassadors under the mentorship of Anne Funke. These students have completed three years as Character Scholars and will spend their final year at UD using the knowledge and skills they have developed to serve as character leaders on campus. Some of their tasks include planning Lunch and Learns and group service projects for UD students. Watch for announcements about their activities in the fall!
Fall 2025 Wendt Character Lecture
Josh Freedman, Co-founder and CEO of Six Seconds: The Emotional Intelligence Network, will deliver the Fall 2025 Wendt Character Lecture on October 6 at 7:00 p.m. in John & Alice Butler Hall, Heritage Center. Additionally, Patty Freedman, the creative director at Six Seconds and founder of Pop-Up Festival, will also be on campus. The Pop-up Festival is in partnership with UNICEF's World Children Day, which is a global celebration of children's wellbeing, emotional intelligence, and the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. Pop-Up Festival is the world's largest social emotional learning initiative, reaching 5 million children and adults in 200 countries and territories. On Tuesday, October 7, the Wendt Center will be hosting a Pop-up Festival open to the UD campus and the Dubuque community.
Interested in getting your class involved with Josh Freedman or the Pop-up Festival? Contact the Wendt Center at wendt@dbq.edu!
Credits:
Wendt Center for Character Education