The Educating for the Virtues of Attention (EVA) initiative is a university-wide effort at UNC Chapel Hill, led by the Parr Center for Ethics, designed to address the growing crisis of attention and foster habits that support lifelong wellbeing and flourishing. The initiative begins from the premise that attention is the most fundamental moral and intellectual capacity, and works to cultivate virtues such as patience, presence, humility, charitable listening, and moral sensitivity. EVA is funded through the Educating for Character Initiative at Wake Forest University and has built partnerships across campus with units including the Ackland Art Museum, Carolina Performing Arts, Carolina Housing, and the North Carolina Botanical Garden.

EVA pursues its goals through multiple channels, including curricular integration, faculty development, and co-curricular programming. Faculty Communities of Practice support instructors in embedding attentional virtues into their teaching, while the initiative is also integrated into first-year experiences such as College Thriving and Honors Carolina. To measure its impact, EVA is developing the Attentional Habits Inventory, a novel assessment instrument designed to track changes in attentional habits over time across domains including presence, patience, humility, and moral sensitivity.