About Us

The William and Ida Friday Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is dedicated to lifelong learning, community engagement, and intellectual enrichment. It houses the Friday Conference Center, a leading venue for academic, professional, and community events; a portfolio of Community Programs focused on community enrichment and lifelong learning; and serves as the administrative home for the Retired Faculty and Professionals Association (RFPA).

Guided by Bill Friday’s vision of “the citizens’ classroom,” the Friday Center is home to valuable educational programming, including community lectures, a celebration of Black History Month, the UNC paralegal program, and the BRIDGES academic leadership program.

The Friday Conference Center, a 39,000 square-foot continuing education conference center serving UNC-Chapel Hill departments and other organizations, fosters knowledge exchange by providing a dedicated venue and comprehensive services to support education, training, and professional development programming.

We also provide Continuing Education Unit (CEU) administration to campus, serving as the University’s home for recording individual participation in noncredit courses, programs, and other activities

Looking for Digital and Lifelong Learning?

We invite you to reach out to our campus partners who are able to help you.

Friday Center

• Conference Center: conferencecenter@unc.edu
• Community Programs (community events, paralegal program, Bridges): fridaycenter@unc.edu

Looking for Summer School, Pre-College programming, or Correctional Education? These programs are now with the College of Arts and Sciences:

• Summer school (Jennifer Larson): summer_school@unc.edu
• Correctional education (Lisa Kukla): kukla@unc.edu
• Pre-College programming (David Mallen):damallen@unc.edu

If you are interested in taking classes at UNC part-time:

• And you have completed an undergraduate degree, contact Hoyte Lee: helee@email.unc.edu
• And you have not completed an undergraduate degree, contact: unchelp@admissions.unc.edu

If you’re looking for online program support:

• Please email Tyler Ritter: tyler_ritter@unc.edu