{"id":1109,"date":"2016-08-14T20:47:12","date_gmt":"2016-08-15T02:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/unt125\/?p=1109"},"modified":"2017-12-18T11:35:30","modified_gmt":"2017-12-18T17:35:30","slug":"willis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/unt125\/2016\/08\/14\/willis\/","title":{"rendered":"A. M. Willis, Jr."},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Being a regent is the most difficult and frustrating, and at the same time personally satisfying, of any job I’ve ever had.” \u00a0— Achille Murat Willis, Jr.<\/div>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Archille Murat Willis, Jr., known casually as A.M. Willis, Jr. or A.M. “Monk” Willis was\u00a0born on October 9, 1916 in Richmond, Virginia. In 1938,\u00a0he attended Washington & Lee University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Economics.\u00a0Willis attended Harvard Business School from 1938-1939 before deciding to leave to accept\u00a0a position at Johns-Manville, an insulation and roofing manufacturer based in New York City. At Johns-Manville Willis helped to run the company’s exhibit at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.\u00a0After the exhibit,\u00a0Willis worked on\u00a0Wendell Willkie’s presidential campaign. In 1942, after\u00a0Willkie lost the election, Willis joined the U.S. Navy during World War II and served until 1946.\u00a0He rose\u00a0to the rank of Lieutenant Commander\u00a0while stationed in the Pacific. Willis moved to New York City\u00a0following the war. It was in New York City that he met his wife, Frances Maxine Hundahl. The Willises moved to Longview, Texas where Archille was a district manger for Mutual of Omaha\u00a0from the late 1940s to 1976. He also\u00a0worked for Lyndon B. Johnson’s Senate Campaign.\u00a0He remained active as a staff of 4th District U.S. Rep. Ray Roberts of McKinney\u00a0until 1972. He\u00a0would\u00a0serve as administrative assistant until 1976. Willis\u00a0also worked as a\u00a0staff director of the U.S. House of Representatives Veterans’ Affairs Committee.<\/p>\r\n

In 1965, Governor John Connally appointed Willis as one of nine Regents at North Texas. Willis was reappointed in 1972 by Governor Preston Smith and again in 1979 by Governor Dolph Briscoe. Willis served as a\u00a0member of the North Texas Board of Regents until 1983. Willis was elected Chairman of the Board of Regents in 1969, a role he was reelected annually to for nine years, until 1979.\u00a0Willis was regarded as highly active regent who drew\u00a0both\u00a0praise and criticism.\u00a0Willis\u2019\u00a0tenure as a member of the Board of Regents\u00a0was marked by the turmoil of a changing society. Willis led the board\u00a0during an era of student activism in civil rights, anti-Vietnam War protests, free speech, academic policies. Among the campus needs that he addressed was the demand\u00a0for a new library. The previous North Texas library had\u00a0doubled its size in ten years and there was an increase in the amount of students checking\u00a0out books and an increase in the usage of\u00a0interlibrary loans.<\/p>\r\n

Willis, a rapid reader with a large personal library, felt building a large centrally located facility for current and future collections was a high priority. He saw it as\u00a0a fundamental building-block\u00a0priority\u00a0for the advancement of the university.\u00a0His view of the future and willingness to work for it\u00a0earned him the honor to have the new library named after him.<\/p>\r\n

The new building\u00a0was\u00a0originally designed\u00a0to be\u00a0erected in three phases on the athletic field behind the Administration Building.\u00a0The central part of the structure was built first. The building was designed by Caudill Rowlett Scott. The first phase cost a total of 4.5 million dollars. One third of the cost was covered by a grant from the Department of Health, Education and Welfare for $1,456,783. The costs of phases two and three were\u00a0to be covered from the sale of\u00a0bonds but\u00a0were never built.The new library known\u00a0was originally called the \u201cnew library\u201d and\u00a0opened up in the summer 1971. The\u00a0building was\u00a0formally dedicated on April 25, 1972\u00a0and named\u00a0Willis Library<\/a>.\u00a0It\u00a0was\u00a0the third of four university buildings named after a regent after Wooten Hall, Kerr Hall,\u00a0and\u00a0Murchison Performing Arts Center.<\/p>\r\n

Willis lived\u00a0in Washington, D. C. until his retirement in 1983 when he relocated to\u00a0Longview, Texas. He died at the age of 94 on January 14, 2011.<\/p>\r\n

— by Amanda Montgomery, Assistant Processing Archivist<\/p>\r\n

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