from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1980 after completing a 166-page long senior thesis titled "Reinvestment and Displacement: A Research Strategy.
[7] During his five and one-half years at UCLA, Schill recruited leading legal scholars from top schools across the nation and established thirteen endowed chairs.
[8] Schill served as chair of the Council of Professional School Deans and sat on the UCLA Chancellor's Executive Committee.
[11][12] In 2016, Schill announced the launch of the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact,[13][14][15][16] a billion dollar initiative to transform innovation at the University of Oregon.
The first phase, anchored by a $500 million gift from the Knights, was completed in December 2020 with the grand opening of the campus’s first building.
[36][37] The university reached the goal of improving four-year graduation rates by 10 percentage points a year early, in 2019.
[38] In an effort to encourage the exchange of ideas and make campus more inclusive and equitable, Schill held a series of events focused on freedom of expression,[39][40] launched an African American speaker series,[41][42][43] oversaw the development of thirty-four diversity action plans for each major administrative and academic unit on campus, and championed the creation of a new Black Cultural Center, which opened in 2019.
The previous President-designate, Rebecca M. Blank, had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer that prevented her from taking position; she died in February 2023.
[3] Schill is a co-author (with Jesse Dukeminier, James Krier, Greg Alexander, and Lior Strahilevitz) of Property, a major casebook now in its ninth edition.
[61] He has also co-authored Reducing the Cost of New Housing Construction in New York City: 2005 Update (Center For Real Estate and Urban Policy, 2005) (with Jerry Salama and Jonathan Springer),[62] Revitalizing America’s Cities: Neighborhood Reinvestment and Displacement (State University of New York Press, 1983) (with Richard P. Nathan),[63] and The State of New York City’s Housing and Neighborhoods, 2003, 2004, 2005 (Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy) (with Denise Previti).
Schill was recognized for his work as the founding director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy.