“To know Gene is to see the embodiment of Catholic social teaching about social justice and the common good... We are proud to be associated with Gene and grateful for his faith-driven concern for the most vulnerable of Jesus’ brothers and sisters.”
- Former NC Council of Churches Executive Director, Rev. George Reed

Gene R. Nichol, Event Speaker

Gene Nichol is the Boyd Tinsley distinguished professor of law at the University of North Carolina. His research is supported by the N.C. Poverty Research Fund. Prior to 2008 and his return to UNC, Nichol served as president of the College of William and Mary, was Burton Craige professor and dean of the law school at UNC, and law dean at the University of Colorado.

Nichol is co-author of Seeing the Invisible: Putting a Face on Poverty in North Carolina. He’s published articles in several law reviews, was a political columnist for the Rocky Mountain News, and hosted a public affairs television show, “Culture Wars,” for KBDI in Denver. He has been a monthly op-ed writer for the Raleigh News & Observer for 15 years.

In 2013, the NC Council of Churches gave Nichol its Faith Active in Public Life Award. Former Executive Director Rev. George Reed has said, “To know Gene is to see the embodiment of Catholic social teaching about social justice and the common good... We are proud to be associated with Gene and grateful for his faith-driven concern for the most vulnerable of Jesus’ brothers and sisters.”

Nichol has received many awards including the ABA’s Edward Finch Award for delivering the nation’s best Law Day address; Carolina’s pro bono professor of the year; he was inducted into the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, North Carolina’s highest civilian honor; the NC-ACLU named him its W.W. Finlator Award winner, and the University of North Carolina gave him its Thomas Jefferson Award – the university’s highest faculty honor.