The Neely and Jack Purcell Program on Ethics, Honor and Leadership
The Neely and Jack Purcell Program on Ethics, Honor and Leadership seeks to create a national model for how liberal arts colleges can foster academic integrity, personal responsibility, and ethical leadership development.
Grounded in a community-wide commitment to trust and honor, it will serve as the academic home for the institution’s Honor Code and related initiatives. Through research, education, and practice, the program explores core values such as honesty, fairness, and moral courage.
This event brings together student leaders, faculty and staff from leading liberal arts institutions to learn and think about character and honor on campus, and wrestle with AI, ethical issues, and campus cultures.
This convening is made possible through the support of a grant from the .
As part of our goal to foster academic collaboration that builds students' capacity for ethical leadership and public solutions, the IPG offers faculty grants to support the thoughtful incorporation of character development into their courses.
We define character broadly, encompassing many forms across the liberal arts, such as ethical reasoning, civic engagement, artistic expression, historical inquiry, and social responsibility. The initiative encourages students to reflect on living with integrity, acting with empathy, and contributing to the public good. Faculty from all disciplines are welcome to apply, and we encourage diverse approaches that reflect the richness of the liberal arts and Davidson’s commitment to educating the whole person.