George Will to speak at Spring Hill College Scholarship Dinner on April 17

Feb 09, 2007

MOBILE, Ala. — Spring Hill College will welcome George F. Will, nationally respected political commentator and columnist, as the keynote speaker for the College’s Second Annual Scholarship Dinner on Tuesday, April 17. The event is scheduled from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the Arthur Outlaw Recreation Center on campus. Tickets to the event are $125 per person, and proceeds will benefit the Spring Hill College Scholarship Fund.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and Newsweek essayist will present “The Political Argument Today,” a commentary on the Washington political scene that will offer a glimpse into what the future holds for American society.

“We are delighted to have George Will as our scholarship dinner speaker this year,” said Rev. Gregory F. Lucey, S.J. Spring Hill’s president. “Mr. Will is, of course, a dynamic and knowledgeable speaker and we are honored to have him as our guest at this important event that supports our students and their aspirations to become leaders in service to others.”

The Washington Post has syndicated Will’s newspaper column since 1974. Will won a Pulitzer Prize in 1977 for commentary in his newspaper columns, and today his column appears twice weekly in nearly 500 newspapers throughout the United States and Europe. In 1976 he became a regular contributing editor of Newsweek magazine, for which he provides a bimonthly back-page essay.

In 1981 Will became a founding panel member on ABC television’s “This Week,” offering lucid and witty commentary on issues of national importance to a national audience. He is also a prolific author with books ranging from “The Woven Figure: Conservatism and America’s Fabric” to his latest, “With a Happy Eye But: America and the World, 1997–2002.”

Will was born in Champaign, Ill., and was educated at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., Oxford University and Princeton University, where he earned his Ph.D. He has taught political philosophy at Michigan State University, the University of Toronto and Harvard University. Will served as a staff member in the United States Senate from 1970 to 1972. From 1973 through 1976, he was the Washington editor of National Review magazine. Today Will lives and works in the Washington, D.C. area.

Last year Spring Hill College celebrated its 175th anniversary with the first scholarship dinner, and raised more than $100,000 for the Scholarship Fund. More than 90% of Spring Hill students receive some form of financial aid or scholarship support and the average student receives more than $18,000 a year.

Sponsorships for this year’s event are available for $25,000, premier, scholarship sponsor; $5,000, gold, scholarship sponsor; $2,500, silver, VIP seating; $1,000, bronze, table host.

For more information, contact Karen Edwards at Spring Hill College at (251) 414-3205 or kedwards@shc.edu.