Carter Skeel - John Jay Fellow, Fall 2015
Carter Skeel is working to build a future for marriage and family as the Executive Director at the Institute for Family Studies (IFS).
Founded in 2013 by University of Virginia sociologist Brad Wilcox, the Institute for Family Studies advances original empirical research highlighting the essential role of marriage and family in sustaining a healthy society and fostering the conditions in which they can thrive. The organization carries out this mission through major research publications, policy proposals, and public commentary aimed at shaping discourse surrounding family life and social stability. At its core, IFS seeks to cultivate what sociologist Peter Berger described as a “plausibility structure” for marriage and family in the modern age, helping restore them as both attractive and achievable realities for Americans.
Joining IFS in 2025 after a successful time as the Director of Advancement at First Things, Skeel was an ideal choice as the Institute’s new Executive Director. “I am exceptionally pleased to pass the leadership baton onto Carter Skeel,” shared former Executive Director Michael Toscano, who was stepping down to focus on leading the Institute’s Family First Technology Initiative. “I couldn’t have imagined a more effective, level-headed, visionary, strategic, and competent new Executive Director.”
Skeel attended the University of Pennsylvania, earning his Bachelor’s in Philosophy in 2015. There, he became aware that many of the things he took for granted in his Christian upbringing – his stable family, his religious faith, hope in the future, the existence of God – were hardly constants in the lives of his peers. This experience led him to apply for the John Jay Fellowship.
“I have long viewed my time in the John Jay Fellowship as a necessary remediation for the things I was not taught studying philosophy at a major research university. To not only read Great Books, but to discuss them in community, was an invaluable experience,” Skeel commented, remembering his days as a fellow.
Indeed, while academically rigorous, the John Jay Fellowship distinguishes itself by being more than an academic program. For Skeel, as for many other alumni who have run the same gauntlet, the best and most essential part of the four-month residency was the exercise of living itself.
“As more of our lives and conversations become digital, my appreciation for the incarnational nature of the fellowship has grown. To know that the person with whom you are disagreeing in class is someone you will soon be sitting across the lunch table from — and maybe even cooking with! — proves quite salutary and is a lesson I’ve taken with me throughout my professional journey.”
That professional journey is proving to be spent in the service of a vital cause. Skeel firmly believes that rebuilding the family is the first step to rebuilding American society as a whole. “The research is clear. Family structure is one of the best predictors of child outcomes. Married men and women lead happier and more meaningful lives than their unmarried counterparts. As the family goes, so goes the nation,” he declares.
“What we at IFS find is not just that marriage and family matter, but that they matter more than ever.” Skeel continues, elaborating on his mission at IFS. “And now, we are finding a new receptiveness to saying these things out loud and to discussing them in the public square. We’re committed to seizing this opportunity to move America in a more family-friendly direction—for the long haul.”
Family is crucial to a just and flourishing society. Whether the John Jay Institute’s fellowships prepare graduates to be faithful husbands, wives, fathers, and mothers, or whether it equips leaders like Carter Skeel to purpose their lives around the public preservation of the institution, we’re blessed to be a part of it.
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