Partners

External Funding & UCI Support

UCI Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation

From the start of the Anteater Virtues, UCI’s Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation has provided, and continues to provide, significant support for this project. This includes material support in the form of filming and editing services, promotional support, and a commitment to incorporating this resource within its program of pedagogical training for teaching assistants and faculty. The Anteater Virtues project also receives institutional support from being hosted by the Center for Knowledge, Technology & Society.

John Templeton Foundation

The Anteater Virtues project has been supported by two large grants from the John Templeton Foundation. The first grant, ‘Embedding the Development of Intellectual Character within a University Curriculum’ (#62330; PI: Duncan Pritchard; co-PIs: Richard Arum & Jason Baehr), runs from 2022-25. The second grant, ‘Cultivating Intellectual Character in the AI Age’ (#63365; PI: Shayan Doroudi; co-PIs: Duncan Pritchard & Gabriel Avakian Orona), runs from 2024-27.

Educating for Virtuous Intellectual Character (EVIC)

From 2024-27, the Anteater Virtues project has been supported by an Institutional Impact award (‘Educating for Virtuous Intellectual Character (EVIC)’, #2024II15, PI: Duncan Pritchard), from the Educating Character Initiative (funded by Lilly Endowment Inc), which is part of the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University.

Partner Organizations

The project has several partners, with more to be announced soon. These include:

Intellectual Virtues Academy

A middle school and a high school in Long Beach—both called Intellectual Virtues Academy—that also have an intellectual character-based curriculum.

European Research Council

Professor Genia Schönbaumsfeld’s European Research Council Advanced Grant, ‘The Ethics of Doubt: Kierkegaard, Scepticism and Conspiracy Theory’. Professor Schönbaumsfeld will be collaborating on the construction of several advanced Anteater Virtues modules and will also integrating these modules into the curriculum at her home institution, University of Southampton, UK.

University of Queensland Critical Thinking Project (UQCTP)

The University of Queensland Critical Thinking Project (UQCTP) is a comprehensive curriculum and engagement program for the development and deployment of Critical Thinking Pedagogies.

Universidad Austral

A project at Universidad Austral in Buenos Aeries, Argentina, that is also exploring integrating educating for virtuous intellectual character into a University-level curriculum.

UCI MUST Project

UCI’s Measuring Undergraduate Success Trajectories (MUST) project implements a state-of-the-art measurement project to improve our understanding of the value of undergraduate educational experiences and promote evidence-based models of undergraduate student success. In partnership with the Anteater Virtues, dimensions include measuring UCI students’ intellectual dispositions and individual flourishing.

UCI LIFTED Program

UCI’s Leveraging Inspiring Futures Through Educational Degrees (LIFTED) program extends access to the Anteater Virtues modules for incarcerated students. This partnership is a continuation of Pritchard’s previous successful work in Scottish prisons, which improved prisoners’ critical thinking and collaboration skills.

Discovery Cube

The Discovery Cube museums in Santa Ana and Los Angeles inspire and educate young minds through engaging science-based programs and exhibits to create a meaningful impact on the communities they serve. The Anteater Virtues Project is collaborating with both campuses to develop a new exhibit, which emphasizes curiosity and tenacity through collaborative problem-solving between parents and children together, and aims to foster character development across generations.