About the Center
History
The Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity was started in February 2005 as a joint effort between the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the UNC School of Law and Senator John Edwards. Sen. Edwards directed the center until December 2006. Professor Marion Crain was subsequently appointed as the new director, a position she held until June 2008. The third and current director, Professor Gene Nichol, came aboard in the fall of 2008.
Staff
Gene Nichol, Director
Gene Nichol is a professor of law at the University of North Carolina. He has written and taught extensively in the areas of constitutional law, federal courts, civil rights, economic injustice and election law. He has published in many of the nation's top law journals, including the
Harvard Law Review,
Yale Law Journal,
University of Chicago Law Review,
Michigan Law Review,
University of Pennsylvania Law Review,
California Law Review,
Duke Law Journal,
Virginia Law Review and an array of leading legal journals. He has also published extensively in the popular press -- writing for
The Nation,
The Washington Post,
The Chronicle of Higher Education,
The News & Observer and
The Denver-Rocky Mountain News.
Nichol has held numerous leadership positions including dean of the UNC School of Law from 1999-2005. He then assumed the presidency of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. He also served as law dean at the University of Colorado from 1988-1995 and the James Gould Cutler Professor and Director of the Institute of Bill of Rights Law at William & Mary from 1985-1988. Nichol founded the Byron White Center of Constitutional Law at the University of Colorado (1990) and the Center for Civil Rights at the University of North Carolina (2001).
Nichol attended Oklahoma State University, where he received a degree in philosophy in 1973. He obtained his J.D. from the University of Texas, graduating Order of the Coif, in 1976.
Heather Hunt, Assistant Director
Heather Hunt holds a B.A. in history from Columbia University and earned her J.D. from the UNC School of Law in 2002. She served as a Fellow for the UNC Center for Civil Rights and has worked as a consultant and with numerous nonprofits.
Wendy Spitzer, Administrative Assistant
Wendy Spitzer is a 2002 graduate of UNC, where she received a national merit scholarship and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. After graduation, she worked in nonprofit arts management and in an administrative capacity at the UNC School of Law. An active musician, she is involved in both classical and rock ensembles.
Advisory Board
- Professor Alice Ammerman, UNC School of Public Health and Director, Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
Professor Oscar Barbarin, UNC School of Social Work and Senior Investigator, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center
- President Emeritus William Friday, University of North Carolina
Professor Jim Johnson,
UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School and Director, Urban Investment Strategies Center
Professor Bill Rohe,
UNC Department of City and Regional Planning and Director, Center for Urban and Regional Studies
Dr. Pam Silberman,
Associate Director for Policy Analysis, Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research and President, North Carolina Institute of Medicine
Contact Us
The Poverty Center mailing address is:
Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity
UNC School of Law
School of Law Annex
CB #3382
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3382