{"id":1490,"date":"2026-08-04T12:08:36","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T12:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/cei\/?page_id=1490"},"modified":"2026-08-25T15:19:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T15:19:56","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/cei\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\tEducation for the<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\twhole<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\tperson.<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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What is community college for?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Community colleges change lives. They open paths to better work, higher earnings, and real economic mobility, and we’re proud of that work. But if the only message students hear is that education pays, what have we left out? The steady drumbeat of professional advancement can crowd out the things students already care about: family, faith\/belief, community, justice, truth.<\/p>\n

We see no contradiction between economic mobility and a moral life. Character education\u2013embedded in general education, taught within the disciplines\u2013can hold both. That’s plausible here because of who our students are. Our students arrive carrying strong moral commitments and a basic orientation toward others. What many have overcome just to reach our classrooms has already taught them what those commitments demand. What they need is the occasion to examine and extend that work.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead our blog<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Our model begins with the student as an agent.<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Character is cultivated when students exercise that agency through the excellences embodied in the disciplines they study. Therefore, we don’t hand students a fixed list of virtues to acquire; we invite them into a shared investigation of character, as participants rather than recipients. Our role is to create the conditions where that inquiry, and the flourishing it makes possible, can happen.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Six values guide us. A college education should focus on:<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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  • Truth and inquiry<\/b> \u2014 help students pursue truth and orient themselves toward inquiry<\/li>\n
  • Community-oriented altruism<\/b> \u2014 help students recognize their obligations to others<\/li>\n
  • Justice<\/b> \u2014 orient students toward the common good<\/li>\n
  • Courage<\/b> \u2014 help students advance the good life, even against adversity<\/li>\n
  • Compassion<\/b> \u2014 help students recognize the humanity and need of society’s most vulnerable members<\/li>\n
  • Joy<\/b> \u2014 center beauty and delight in the pursuit of knowledge<\/li>\n<\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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    General education is where this work lives.<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    General education\u2019s excellences are often dismissed as “soft skills,” but they’re the very capacities ACC already names as its core general education competencies: Critical Thinking, Social Responsibility, Personal Responsibility, Teamwork<\/em>. Aligning those competencies with character is how we unlock what general education can do.<\/p>

    Our framework builds on the Jubilee Centre for Character & Virtues at the University of Birmingham, and on a decade of faculty work in Great Questions, Honors and the Liberal Arts Gateway programs.<\/p>

    Our aim is a transformative experience for students and faculty.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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