The LearningWell Coalition is pleased to announce that University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has joined the Coalition as an affiliate member through its Educating for the Virtues of Attention (EVA) initiative, a university-wide effort designed to address the growing crisis of attention and foster habits that support lifelong wellbeing and flourishing.

Led by the Parr Center for Ethics, EVA begins from the premise that attention is essential to how people think, learn, relate to others, and build meaningful lives. The initiative works to cultivate virtues of attention, including patience, presence, humility, charitable listening, and moral sensitivity, through curricular integration, faculty development, and co-curricular programming across campus.

“Students arrive at UNC already embedded in an attention economy that threatens the very conditions of human flourishing and human community,” wrote Michael Vazquez, Teaching Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Associate Director of the Parr Center for Ethics. “EVA responds to this crisis by treating attention as the most fundamental moral and intellectual capacity, one that must be cultivated through deliberate effort within an auspicious and supportive environment.”

The EVA initiative is funded through the Educating for Character Initiative at Wake Forest University and includes partnerships across the UNC campus, including collaborations with the Ackland Art Museum, Carolina Performing Arts, Carolina Housing, the North Carolina Botanical Garden, and other academic and co-curricular units. The initiative also includes Faculty Communities of Practice and integration into first-year experiences such as College Thriving and Honors Carolina.

As part of the initiative, UNC is also developing new approaches to assessment, including the Attentional Habits Inventory, a novel instrument designed to measure attentional habits and changes over time across domains such as presence, patience, humility, and moral sensitivity.

“UNC-Chapel Hill is approaching student flourishing through a deeply thoughtful and human-centered lens,” said Keith Buffinton, executive director of the LearningWell Coalition. “EVA’s work recognizes that wellbeing is connected to students’ ability, and in fact need, to engage deeply with ideas, with one another, and with the world around them. We are excited to welcome UNC and to learn alongside their talented team of faculty and staff.”

About the LearningWell Coalition

The LearningWell Coalition is a growing network of colleges and universities committed to advancing higher education to ensure every student is prepared to flourish in work and in life. Through collaboration, research, and shared learning, the Coalition supports institutions in developing educational models that promote lifelong wellbeing, purpose, and meaningful engagement.