Character, Community, and Collaboration Fellowship
Bellarmine University initiative exploring character formation, dialogue, and community-engaged learning.
Contact Us
Conor A. Picken
Director, Character, Community & Collaboration Fellowship Program
cpicken@bellarmine.edu
Where Character Meets Community Engagement
About the Fellowship
The Character, Community, and Collaboration Fellowship, funded by the Educating Character Initiative, supports faculty, students, and community partners as they explore how character formation can deepen community-engaged learning. Grounded in Bellarmine’s mission and inspired by Thomas Merton’s legacy of reflection, dialogue, and social responsibility, the fellowship creates space for meaningful collaboration across campus and the wider Louisville community.
“I think what’s been great about this project is that there’s an outcome for community partners like me. I can see the benefit in terms of what students do. But there’s also an element of raising awareness with students. To see how students come alive working with these documents and learning about this history and connecting with it. It’s a reminder that there’s a deep community element and an educational element to this work.”
- Deacon Ned Berghausen, Director, Unmarked Graves Project
Our Impact
The fellowship equips faculty, students, and community partners to cultivate character through community-engaged learning, reciprocal partnerships, and dialogue across difference. Together, they are creating learning experiences that prepare students for lives of purpose, leadership, and service while strengthening connections between Bellarmine and the Louisville community.
“[Through the experience of being an intern twice at Lincoln Trail District Health Department], it led me to believe what is really important whenever you’re developing what that student experience is. How many times do you have the option to build a course like this and especially data-related?”
- Elizabeth Tennison, Public Health Impacts Manager
Our Fellowship Model
The fellowship is grounded in three interconnected pillars that guide how faculty, students, and community partners learn and work together.
Character
Participants cultivate virtues such as curiosity, humility, empathy, integrity, and ethical leadership through reflection and community-engaged experiences.
Community
The fellowship strengthens reciprocal relationships between Bellarmine and community organizations, recognizing that meaningful learning happens through authentic partnership.
Collaboration
Faculty, student, and community partners co-create projects that address real-world challenges while learning from one another’s expertise and lived experiences.
These three pillars come to life through interdisciplinary projects developed by fellowship teams of faculty, students, and community partners.
Interested in learning more?
Faculty, students, and community partners are invited to connect with the Center for
Community Engagement.