New Mexico Highlands University has been selected to receive a 2026 Institutional Impact Grant from the Educating Character Initiative, a project of The Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University. The Educating Character Initiative is funded by Lilly Endowment Inc.
Highlands is the lead institution for “The NMHU Good Futures Project: We Are All Related — Centering Community, Identity, and Purpose,” a collaborative initiative involving Northern New Mexico College, Harvard University, and SEL4NewMexico.
The project is one of 44 initiatives selected nationwide. Collectively, the three-year grants will directly affect 49 colleges and universities and support long-term efforts to integrate character formation into undergraduate curricula, programs and campus culture.
The NMHU Good Futures Project is led by Rebecca Maldonado Moore, Lynn Barendsen, Shelby Clark, Amy McConnell-Franklin and Sandra Rodriguez. Through the initiative, Highlands and its partners will develop an approach to character education grounded in the principle that “we are all related.” The project will connect students’ identities and lived experiences with questions of purpose, belonging, responsibility and community.
The Educating Character Initiative selected projects representing a broad range of institutions, including public universities, community colleges, historically Black colleges and universities, research universities and faith-based institutions. Four of the awards, including the Good Futures Project, support collaborations involving multiple institutions.
“The work of character formation at any given institution must fit its mission and vision and the population of students it serves,” Educating Character Initiative Executive Director Jennifer Rothschild said in announcing the awards. “We think that character is for everyone, but it is not one-size-fits-all.”
The grant aligns with Highlands’ mission to provide an exceptional education within a diverse community while fostering creativity, critical thinking and research. It also advances the university’s commitment as a Hispanic-Serving Institution and emerging Native American-Serving Nontribal Institution to culturally responsive education, community engagement and student success.
More information about the Educating Character Initiative and its 2026 Institutional Impact Grants is available at leadershipandcharacter.wfu.edu.