Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak has established a $1.25 million chair in Western civilization at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the hope that students at the school can learn the kinds of things he learned there more than half a century ago.

The 75-year-old conservative columnist, who said he regularly draws on the subject for his column, suggested creating the position as a way to emphasize the influence of classical thinking throughout history.

"Although certainly the non-Western cultures have a lot to offer, I think that our country owes so much to its straight-line descent from the culture in all fields, starting with the ancient Romans and Greeks and through the European civilizations," said Novak, whose column appears in 150 newspapers around the nation.

According to the university's description, the chair will advance "the understanding and appreciation of major figures, works, and ideas important to the development of Western civilization and culture."

The first to hold the position will be classicist Jon Solomon. Solomon, who was at the University of Arizona before he was hired by Illinois last fall, is a highly regarded scholar who has won 11 teaching awards, said Kirk Freudenburg, who heads the Classics Department at Illinois.

Solomon will be honored as the first Robert D. Novak endowed chair Thursday at an investiture at the Urbana-Champaign campus.