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Dateline: 4/21/2009

GONZAGA UNIVERSITY NEWS RELEASE
Dale Goodwin, Director
Peter Tormey, Associate Director

Willis Chosen as Learn, Serve Leadership Fellow
Amy Merrill Willis, assistant professor of religious studies at Gonzaga University, has been selected as a Learn and Serve America Leadership Fellow by the Washington Campus Compact. As a Fellow, Willis received a $500 stipend and a $425 registration to the Continuums of Service Conference held April 16-18 in Seattle. Also, there will be a Leadership Fellows retreat this summer (TBA).

Willis’ selection stems from her involvement with the Service Learning Advisory Board at Gonzaga the past three years, including last year when she served as chair. Willis said she uses service- learning in the Introduction to the Old Testament course she teaches, one of three service-learning courses currently for Gonzaga freshmen (although two more courses will begin next year). The fellowship is intended to advance her use of service-learning in the classroom and advance efforts by faculty, students, and Gonzaga’s Center for Community Action and Service Learning to implement a civic engagement program of study on campus.

Willis joined the Gonzaga faculty in 2004 and teaches courses related to the Old Testament, women and the Bible, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Her research interests include the depiction of God in apocalyptic literature, biblical theology, myth and the Old Testament, cults of the dead in Ancient Israel, and the Bible and culture.

She completed her doctorate last year in Hebrew Bible at Emory University. Her dissertation was a study of Divine Sovereignty in the Book of Daniel. She holds a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va., and a Bachelor of Arts double degree in English and Bible/Religion from Erskine College in Due West, S.C.

Willis is a member of the clergy in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and has served in churches in Virginia and South Carolina.

For more information, contact Willis at (509) 313-6788 or via e-mail.