School of Civic Life and Leadership

The School of Civic Life and Leadership provides a home for the study and practice of public discourse, civic life and civic leadership.

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Students gather in a grassy area, some sitting and some standing, in front of a large brick building flanked by two trees with and American flag on a flag pole in the center.

Your support of the School of Civic Life and Leadership shapes the citizens and leaders our nation needs.

Imagine 40 years of graduates like these: in our legislatures and courtrooms, our classrooms and boardrooms, our town halls and neighborhoods. That is how SCiLL will change North Carolina, our nation, and the world.

Cards

Program in Public Discourse

The Program for Public Discourse, founded in 2019 in the College of Arts & Sciences, is now part of the School of Civic Life and Leadership.

Professor Rita Koganzon teaches a course.

Civics for North Carolinians

A class at J.F. Webb in Granville County included a civics unit led by Carolina faculty.

A student archer draws a bow and aims an arrow at a practice target.

Student support & experiential learning

Support enables merit-based aid, mentoring and access to transformative, hands-on educational experiences for students.

Jed Atkins speaks on stage at a SCiLL event

Bringing civil discourse to college classrooms

Philanthropy makes possible initiatives such as faculty seminars that prepare college and university professors from across the country to teach civil discourse in their own classrooms. On Carolina's campus, the School's Summer Civics Institutes bring together middle and high school social studies teachers and high school students to study primary texts of the American political tradition. These are conversations they carry back to schools and communities across North Carolina.

Read about Summer Civics Institutes

Fostering civic engagement and intellectual growth

Your support helps the School of Civic Life and Leadership educate reflective citizens and leaders who can listen, speak, think and lead across differences in their lives and careers.

Research shows…

More than 50% of all American college students say they self-censor and 25% of faculty feel they can’t express their views.

22

permanent faculty teaching SCiLL courses, including five new in 2026

556

permanent faculty teaching SCiLL courses, including 5 new in 2026

25

SCiLL courses offered in 2026

Support the School of Civic Life and Leadership

Donor support is essential for recruiting and retaining outstanding faculty, establishing a residential college and providing student support and experiential learning opportunities. Make a gift today to advance the work of the School of Civic Life and Leadership.

A $10 million matching gift from the National Endowment for the Humanities presents a rare and time-sensitive opportunity to generate immediate and enduring impact. This investment will allow UNC-Chapel Hill to recruit and retain world-class scholars and teachers by creating permanently endowed professorships. Contact us if interested in learning more.

See Related Funds

The School of Civic Life and Leadership Libertas Scholarship

Provides support for the next generation of civic leaders by providing merit scholarships and enrichment opportunities for outstanding students pursuing a minor in the UNC School of Civic Life and Leadership.

The School of Civic Life and Leadership Course Enhancement Fund

Strengthen SCiLL's distinctive curriculum by funding guest lecturers, debate and dialogue programming, experiential learning and other enhancements that deepen students' understanding of civic life and leadership.

Fund for the School of Civic Life and Leadership

The Fund for the School of Civic Life and Leadership is created to provide expendable resources for the general support of the School of Civic Life and Leadership.

Your support in action

See Related Stories

John Preyer standing in front of the Old Well with South Building in the background

4 min read

New Fund Brings Visiting Scholars to Carolina

A new fund honoring John Preyer, former member and chair of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees, will support visiting scholars at the School of Civic Life and Leadership.

South Building at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Democracy, Ethics & Civic Engagement

3 min read

In SCiLL pilot, students to exercise free expression, civil discourse

New Tar Heels will move through issues, literally, in a half-hour program led by School of Civic Life and Leadership faculty.

A view of the Old Well framed through the doorway of South Building

Democracy, Ethics & Civic Engagement

3 min read

Gift establishes first endowed professorship for faculty of the new School of Civic Life and Leadership

The $1 million gift will support faculty whose work will equip students with the rhetorical and deliberative capacities to serve as citizens and future leaders.

Contact us

Have questions or want to explore how your giving can make the greatest impact? We welcome the opportunity to connect and learn more about what inspires you. Reach out to start a conversation about your philanthropic goals and how you can support the School of Civic Life and Leadership’s mission.

A person with medium length blonde hair wearing a light blue shirt and black jacket smiles at the camera.

Karissa Grasty

Chief Development Officer

kgrasty@unc.edu

“It has been incredible to be a part of SCiLL. While politics, civics, ethics and philosophy are often separated in the humanities, SCiLL provides a rigorous curriculum discussing questions of meaning, political theory and citizenship, all underpinned by civic discourse.”

Four people speaking on a panel at an event are are seated in gray chairs on a stage.

Nadège Sirot

First-Year Student, Classics major, from Gastonia