New calendar ‘honors’ women of Notre Dame for their achievements

Garry W ills, w ho replaces Max Lerncr as ho lder o f the W elch Chair in American Studies at Notre Dame, brings w ith h im “ a keen and b rillian t in terpretation o f both the past and present," according to Profesor Thomas Stritch, acting chairman o f the American studies department. Wills, both scholar and newspa­ per colum nist fo r Universal Press Syndicate, “ reflects the concerns o f the department, w h ich places the study o f journalism w ith in the broader context o f American soci­ ety and c iv iliza tion ," notes Donald Costello, chairman o f the depart­ ment o f American studies. Receiving a doctorate in 1961 at Yale University, W ills taught classics and humanities at Johns Hopkins University fo r 18 years before jo in ing the faculty at Northwestern University in 1980. Currently, W ills is professor o f American cu ltu re and public po licy at Northwestern. As author o f a dozen books in the areas o f American history, po litics and literature, Profesor W ills has received the Merle C urti Award given fo r a book in American in te l­ lectual history and the National Book C ritics C ircle Award. As a speaker, W ills has also lectured at such universities as Yale, Princeton, and the University o f M ic­ higan Law School. A lthough W ills is a journalist, he sees teaching to be his main interest. “ I ’ve always been interested in teaching,” recalls Wills. “ I studied in the religious seminary w ith the idea that 1 w ou ld be a teacher.” W ith his main interest directed toward teaching, W ills ’ journalism experience came along accidentally and in a num ber o f stages. W ills began his journalism career in graduate school, w ritin g book reviews fo r B ill Buckley \ and editorials for the Richmond News Leader. Later, W ills began w ritin g fo r magazines. “Esquire magazine of­ fered me what they call con tribu ting e d ito rs h ip ,” said Wills. "I, in the meanwhile, had a number o f people ask me to w rite a syndicated co lum n and turned them d o w n .” Now, however, W ills is synd­ icated in papers across the country. His colum n can also be seen in The Observer every Wednesday. Through his w riting , W ills presents strong relig ious overtones. " I deliberate ly take it upon m yself to seek ou t the relig ious connections w ith various social aspects, ” W ills commented. W ills is impressed by the large ro le re lig ion has played in our history. “ We are the most re lig i­ ous, large industria lized country in the w o rld ,” cites Wills. By replacing Max Lerner as ho lder o f the W elch Chair in American studies, W ills brings w ith h im a d if­ ferent k ind o f teaching technique. His goal is to make people th ink and