What does character have to do with engineering, education, and the future of tech? Everything.
Elisabeth Arnold Weiss—associate professor of technical communication at USC Viterbi, character-education innovator, and former acrobat(!)—joins us to explore how character isn’t an “add-on” to engineering, but the accelerant that makes trustworthy technology and resilient people possible.
Drawing on 25+ years teaching engineers, athletics-forged grit, and fresh insights from the Virtuosity program and Wake Forest’s Educating Character Initiative, Elisabeth shows how to weave virtues into packed curricula, high-stakes industries like aviation, and everyday life—from studios to classrooms to parenting.
🧠 What you’ll hear:
🧬 Why character is intrinsic to being human—and to practical wisdom and judgment
🎬 How stories (and great films) mirror character transformation
🏗️ Why tech’s speed & power demand human-centric engineers we can trust
✖️ The formula: Competence × Character = Trust (and faster ethical decisions)
🏋️ Athletics as a forge for humility, courage, discipline—and high-performance mindsets
🧱 The “tight curriculum” problem—and Elisabeth’s fix: broad infusion across courses, labs, and co-curriculars
🧭 New USC initiatives: a Freshman Academy character module, the Engineer-23 milestone framework, TEAM (Teaching Engineers Athletes’ Mindset), industry exemplar talks, and “Keys to Life” purpose walks
🛫 Inside aviation safety: linking leader character to communication, culture, and mortal-stakes decisions
📲 How Virtuosity’s daily habit-stacking made character a lived operating system (not a lecture)
👩🏫 Why educators must practice what they teach—and model growth in public
👪 A surprising parenting takeaway: candour and consistency as acts of integrity
If you care about building trustworthy tech, teaching the next generation, or simply growing your own judgment in a machine-shaped world—this conversation will both ground and stretch you.
Resources
• Educating Character Initiative (https://leadershipandcharacter.wfu.edu/eci/)
About Virtuosity
• Website (https://virtuositycharacter.ca/)
• Monthly Newsletter (https://mailchi.mp/virtuositycharacter/subscribe-to-the-virtuosity-monthly-newsletter)
• LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/virtuosity-character)
• Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/virtuositycharacter/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=)
Host, Dr Corey Crossan (https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreycrossan/), is a research and teaching fellow at The Oxford Character Project where she develops and facilitates character development programs for students, industry, and university partners. Corey’s love for elite performance developed as she competed in top-level athletics for most of her life, highlighted by competing as a NCAA Division 1 athlete. Corey translated her understanding of elite performance into a passion for helping individuals and organizations develop sustained excellence. She is also the co-founder of Virtuosity Character, a mobile software application created to support the daily, deliberate practice of character-based leadership development.
