Research in the area of student life has shown that student engagement in student organizations improves a number of undergraduate and graduate student outcomes. Because of the critical importance that student organizations play in student development, continued research is needed to understand the elements that make such organizations successful. This chapter will utilize the reflections of three faculty advisors and two student presidents to explore how virtues and character strengths played a critical role in the continued success of a student organization within the context of a college of education.
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Scholarly dispositions represent the practices and habits of mind that support consistent success in teaching and learning. This chapter aims to connect the construct of scholarly dispositions to the construct of character strengths. Specifically, this chapter presents evidence that the particular character strengths possessed by individual students and individual faculty can help student organizations to flourish. Consistent with the other chapters of this book, this chapter will make specific suggestions about how higher education faculty can help students to develop their scholarly dispositions. In particular, the authors of this chapter recommend that helping faculty and students to recognize and exercise their own individual character strengths may be an effective way of building and sustaining vibrant cultures of teaching and learning.
Research in the area of student life has shown that student engagement in student organizations improves undergraduate and graduate students’ civic engagement (Borges et al., 2017; Dyarbrough, 2002; Richard et al., 2016; Zilvinskis et al., 2017), identity development (Bowman et al., 2015; Harper & Quaye, 2007; Trieu, 2018), and academic achievement (Baker, 2008; Bowman & Holmes, 2017; Holzweiss et al., 2007). Thus, engagement in student organizations, as well as student leadership within these organizations, can serve as a critical component of undergraduate and graduate students’ personal and professional development (Campbell et al., 2012; Dugan, 2006; Dugan & Komives, 2010). Because of the critical importance that student organizations play in student development, continued research is needed to understand, as comprehensively as possible, the elements that make such organizations successful. There are many such elements (see Dugan & Komives, 2010; Kane, 2017), yet, a previously unexplored element is the role of character strengths.
Chris Peterson and Martin Seligman, two of the seminal figures in the field of positive psychology, undertook the massive project of creating a comprehensive classification of character strengths (Peterson & Seligman, 2004). This classification was an attempt to identify the essential psychological elements of wellbeing and fulfillment across individuals and across cultures. Peterson and Seligman identified 24 character strengths, which they categorized according to six virtues:
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The virtue of wisdom includes the character strengths of creativity, curiosity, judgment, love of learning, and perspective.
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The virtue of courage includes the character strengths of bravery, perseverance, honesty, and zest.
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The virtue of humanity includes the character strengths of love, kindness, and social intelligence.
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The virtue of justice includes the character strengths of teamwork, fairness, and leadership.
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The virtue of temperance includes the character strengths of forgiveness, humility, prudence, and self-regulation.
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The virtue of transcendence includes the character strengths of appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, and spirituality.