DURANGO, Colo.— Fort Lewis College has been awarded a $989,988 Institutional Impact Grant from the , part of the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University.

The three-year grant will support the launch and long-term success of a new Reconciliation Center at FLC, expanding the college’s commitment to justice-oriented reconciliation and infusing character education into every level of campus life. 

“This funding allows us to build on the groundwork laid over the last five years by our community—especially our faculty and staff,” said 麻豆免费高清无砖码区President Heather Shotton. “The Reconciliation Center will create the space, structure, and support we need to sustain this work across generations and embed character-building practices—like humility, courage, empathy, and justice—into our everyday educational experiences.”

麻豆免费高清无砖码区is one of a select group of colleges and universities nationwide to receive the ECI 2025 Institutional Impact Grant, which recognizes and supports institutions integrating character education into their missions in meaningful and lasting ways.

The grant is led by co-principal investigators Paul DeBell, associate professor of Political Science, Reconciliation Director Rosalinda Linares-Gray, and Reconciliation Coordinator Matthew Schaeffer. It will fund the project , Institutional Reconciliation as a Transformative Character Education Opportunity. 

“We are especially excited about this partnership with ECI because they have been such open-minded thought partners in exploring how to appropriately and respectfully approach character education in the context of a former boarding school," said DeBell. "Rather than imposing any fixed character framework as was done in the boarding school system, this grant allows us to bring curiosity and humility to our work, supporting character education as all of our students have transformative learning experiences at FLC."

The Reconciliation Center will serve as a hub for cross-campus collaboration, connecting faculty, staff, students, and community partners engaged in reconciliation and character-building initiatives. Key components include:

  • New fellowship and learning community programs that support curricular innovation and open educational resources centered on Indigenous knowledge, restorative justice, and ethics;
  • Professional development initiatives to integrate reconciliation and character education across disciplines;
  • Annual “character profiles” that highlight the virtues cultivated through FLC’s academic and co-curricular programs;
  • Sustained support for Indigenous student-centered services, including collaboration with the Native American Center;
  • An assessment and evaluation strategy to ensure long-term impact and alignment with FLC’s 2025–2030 Strategic Plan.

The ECI is funded by an award from Lilly Endowment Inc. and is part of Wake Forest’s broader effort to inspire and empower leaders of character through innovative research, education, and programming.

FLC’s grant proposal emerged from a year-long planning process supported by an earlier ECI Capacity-Building grant. During that time, a diverse, multidisciplinary group of faculty and staff on the Reconciliation and Educating Character Committee mapped character education practices across campus and highlighted the extraordinary work already happening in reconciliation-related programming. That process revealed a need for central coordination and shared resources.

麻豆免费高清无砖码区recently announced Rosalinda Linares-Gray as the college’s Reconciliation Director.

"Our work in reconciliation requires community-first educational approaches that center Indigenous perspectives," Linares-Gray said. “It asks us to show up with integrity, to listen deeply, and to act responsibly. This grant will help us carry that work forward with more clarity, support, and purpose.”

The Reconciliation Center will formally launch in Fall 2025 with staffing and planning work already underway. It joins a growing ecosystem of reconciliation initiatives at FLC, including Tribal Nation Building, Indigenous language reclamation, and culturally responsive health and wellness efforts. Linares-Gray noted the Reconciliation and Education Character Committee will continue and guide the work of creating the center with input from the greater community as well.

Learn more about the Educating Character Initiative and the 2025 Institutional Impact Grants at .