F. Roy Willis Wins $25,000 Teaching and Scholarship Prize
Excellence in teaching does not go unrewarded, at least not at the University of California. The Davis campus recently awarded a faculty prize of $25,000 to European historian F. Roy Willis for his outstanding efforts in undergraduate teaching and scholarship.
The British-born historian is a popular lecturer on the Davis campus and his classes often attract hundreds of students. Professor Willis says his teaching is based more on common sense and enthusiasm than on a set philosophy. Some of the secret to his teaching success lies in the variety of teaching approaches and methods he uses with his students. Films, music, and personal slides appear in his courses alongside unusual testing methods, like asking his students to reconstruct a city’s history. Another secret is textbook writing: he has written eight textbooks and believes that such writing has forced him to synthesize large amounts of information and keeps him current with new research.
The Independent Scholar
A new quarterly newsletter edited by Georgia Wright is being published by the Institute for Historical Study, San Francisco. Its board of contributing editors includes James Bennett, whose Chicago reSearcher newsletter served independent scholars until last spring; Ronald Gross, head of the Independent Scholarship National Program; Betsy Jordan, the San Diego Independent Scholars; Barbara Currier Bell, the Center for Independent Study, New Haven; Laura Curtis, the Princeton Research Forum; Nancy Zumwalt, the Alliance of Independent Scholars, Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Judith Ruderman, the Independent Scholars Association of the North Carolina Triangle, Durham.
The Independent Scholar publishes descriptions of organizations of independent scholars and their model programs, profiles of individual scholars, news of grants and prizes, and articles on matters of interest to scholars and those who serve them in libraries, foundations, and learned societies. Readers may seek colleagues or information or assistance through a letters column. For subscription information write to The Independent Scholar, I05 Vicente Road, Berkeley, CA 94705.
US Presidential Papers Printed Indexes
The Library of Congress Manuscript Division is custodian of the collections of papers of twenty-three US presidents. Under the Presidential Papers Program authorized by P.L. 85- 147, enacted August 16, 1957, the Library has organized, indexed, and microfilmed these papers and published guides in book form.
During a recent publication inventory, carried out by the Library of Congress, additional supplies of some sets of the printed Indexes to the Presidential Papers were identified. The quantities of these Indexes uncovered now enables the Photoduplication Service to provide them to interested institutions and individuals, while supplies last, for a $5 per volume handling fee. The Service re serves the right to limit the number of copies it provides to any institution or individual.
Address orders and inquiries to the Photoduplication Service, Department C, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540. Checks should be payable to the Library of Congress Photoduplication Service.
The indexes available are: George Washington, one volume; Thomas Jefferson, one volume; James Madison, one volume; Andrew Jackson, one volume; James Polk, one volume; Andrew Johnson, one volume; Ulysses S. Grant, one volume; James Garfield, one volume; Chester Arthur, one volume; Grover Cleveland, one volume; Benjamin Harrison, one volume; William McKinley, one volume; Theodore Roosevelt, three volumes; William Howard Taft, six volumes; Woodrow Wilson, three volumes; and Calvin Coolidge, one volume.
