Student Life and Leadership

The Office of Student Life and Leadership (SLL) brings together student leaders, student organizations, and student activities under one umbrella: making the campus a better community and home for students, staff, and faculty. Being involved in SLL programs gives students opportunities to enrich their academic and social experience at UNC. The office houses Student Organizations, Leadership Development, Student Activities, Carolina Union Activities Board (CUAB), Assessment and Development, and Student Government.

The mission of Student Life and Leadership is to create an inclusive Carolina community through engagement and intentional educational opportunities. SLL operates with five core values in mind: authentic connections, collaboration, integrity, life-long learning, and social justice.

The Leadership Development team is committed to serving the Carolina community by advocating for leadership as a process of social change. Various programs and activities are offered that help students develop competencies needed to be effective leaders. These programs include leadership development retreats, speaker events, and leadership symposiums. Additionally, three academic courses are offered: EDUC 309, EDUC 317, and EDUC 318 where students learn theory that will help them to develop their leadership style and skills and to incorporate those skills to lead and create positive social change.

The Student Organizations team works with all 900+ student organizations to facilitate their use of university resources and to empower students in their provision of services, programs and activities that enhance the academic experience, extend learning and build community at Carolina. Students can get involved in a student organization through Heel Life. Heel Life is the online hub of student activity and involvement at Carolina. Individual students, student organizations and university departments use the site to maximize the Carolina student experience. The site houses a complete list of active student organizations at Carolina, as well as a calendar of events. Student organizations may use Heel Life to promote upcoming activities, manage membership rosters, store important documents and photos, and more.  The site also offers tools to identify and track individual involvement experiences through the Co-Curricular Transcript (CCT).

The Carolina Union Activities Board (CUAB) is a student-run board that enhances life at Carolina through high-quality programming and events for the entire University community. These include films, art, music, entertainment, and more. Throughout the year, CUAB’s eight committees program over 200 events with around 50,000 total in attendance. Students can become involved in CUAB and build the Carolina community by helping to plan and host engaging activities to reach all students. 

Student Government is the representative liaison before administrators, faculty, the Board of Trustees and Governors, and even the state legislature. Student Government works to address policy issues that matter to UNC and its students, handle funding requests for student organizations, maintain the Student Government Code (the rules by which Student Government operates), and respond to requests for help from students in a broad range of issues regarding student life at UNC–Chapel Hill.