Curiosity paired with intellectual humility, practiced through discomfort, is the virtue that carries students through college and life.
Pair curiosity with intellectual humilityHold the possibility of being wrong in your pocket; it opens conversations and lets people you disagree with take you forward.
Discomfort is not danger in a safe classroomA university is a place where you can be uncomfortable and safe enough, long enough to learn, so do not let discomfort rob you of learning.
Use discernment and patience before changing core beliefsJudge information on its merits, ask what the harm is, and give a challenged belief two to three months to settle before deciding.
Executive SummaryAI
At the Center for the Study of Ethics 2026 Ethics Awareness Week cross-campus panel, Carlos Alarcon (Office for Global Engagement), Kenya De Pussy (Roots of Knowledge, Fulton Library), Bill Herb (Student Health Services), Derek Larson (Community Mental Health Clinic) and Mary Stevens (Fulton Library) named curiosity, sitting with ambiguity, intellectual humility and open-mindedness as the virtues
The panel agreed the hard part is practicing humility when emotion is on the table, and Mary Stevens described exploring her own reaction to a podcast on supporting fat friends and consent as an example of being curious with yourself.
Each office supports these virtues in its own way: therapy removes shame and stress that block exploration, Roots of Knowledge sparks wonder through art, global engagement brings world experiences into classrooms, the library pays for databases so students never spend $40 on one article for 48 hours, and the clinic trains 30 to 60 master's students who give therapy to community members at no cost.
Their advice was to practice curiosity at home, experience a lot of art, stay curious for life, respect people and call out inconsistencies, and, in Bill Herb's words, not confuse discomfort with danger inside a safe learning environment.
Audience questions covered curiosity overload versus the power of now, how House Bill 261 reshaped their departments and cost the university colleagues, discernment and patience as the answer to doubting your own beliefs, and treating deadlines and assignments as products applied to the process of life.
Key Quote
“The possibility of being mistaken opens up your curiosity.”
— Panelist
Key Quote
“I don't think students have the money to spend on $40 for an article for 48 hours.”
— Mary Stevens
Key Quote
“It's basically, don't confuse discomfort with danger.”