New SCiLL director Jed Atkins wants to help UNC students 'flourish' with civic education

Jed Atkins assumed his role as the first permanent dean and director of the UNC School of Civic Life and Leadership on March 28. 

Prior to his appointment as dean of the SCiLL, Atkins was an E. Blake Byrne associate professor of classical studies at Duke University and director of Duke’s Civil Discourse Project. In addition to his appointment as dean, Atkins will hold the Taylor Grandy distinguished professorship on the philosophy of living.

In his new position, Atkins said he hopes to make UNC a place where students can address questions about meaning, purpose, community and human flourishing.

“By doing that, students can come to transcend their original starting points and thereby transcend the gridlocks that often infect our politics,” he said.

Atkins graduated from Bowdoin College in 2004, and then traveled to the United Kingdom to earn his master’s and Ph.D. in philosophy in 2005 and 2009 at the University of Cambridge, respectively. He began as an associate professor in the department of classical studies at Duke in 2009, when Mary “Tolly” Boatwright was the interim chair of the department.

Before hiring him, Boatwright said she was familiar with Atkins because a friend of hers had taught him as an undergraduate student at Bowdoin and “spoke the world about him.”

“Jed stood out,” Boatwright said. “He is so smart, but in a wonderfully accessible way.”

Delaney Thull, a graduate student in the philosophy department at UNC, was a pre-doctoral fellow at The Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, which houses the CDP, last year.

While Atkins was the faculty supervisor for the research group and teaching program, which she was also a member of, Thull said he was very good at helping her find a place in the program and advance her goals. 

“He is able to set aside all of the things on his very full plate and focus on the person in front of him,” Thull said.

As a part of the CDP, Atkins taught a course entitled "The Good Life: Religion, Philosophy and Life’s Ultimate Concerns."

Thull said the students she met who took Atkins’ course came from a range of academic backgrounds, yet they were all able to benefit from the class because of Atkins’ approach. She said he required students to reflect on the value of their time in college and think about their purpose beyond Duke, which was useful and helpful to students no matter their academic interests. 

John Rose, associate director of the CDP, said in an email that Atkins is the most “entrepreneurial academic” he has met.

“Jed is a natural born leader with great vision and energy,” he said. “Equally important, he’s someone of real integrity and courage.”

Because the SCiLL is housed within the College of Arts and Sciences, the school's courses are a part of the IDEAs in Action curriculum and students at UNC are likely to take these classes to fulfill general education requirements.

Atkins is well-suited to impact a broader number of students, Thull said, because he understands that the purpose of being in the College of Arts and Sciences is integrating academic and personal interests.

Atkins said he hopes students will come out of SCiLL courses with the courage to pursue meaning in their life, think for themselves and have conversations with those who think differently than they do.

“I dream what that can look like in 40 years,” he said. “Imagine having the country, maybe the world, filled with Carolina graduates who are living these values. That's the sort of vision that made me want to take this job.”

Though the creation of SCiLL was met with widespread criticism due to a lack of faculty involvement in its creation and controversial political ties, Atkins said he believes “origins are not destiny" and the type of civic education he is committed to will prepare students for the responsibilities of democratic citizenship.

“I can’t think of anything that is more nonpartisan or bipartisan than that,” he said.

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