KU Libraries announce winners of 2020 Alyce Hunley Whayne Visiting Researchers Travel Award

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Libraries have announced the recipients of the fifth annual Alyce Hunley Whayne Visiting Researchers Travel Award winners, Sherri Smith and Charisse Burden-Stelly. 

Smith is a faculty member of the Creative Writing MFA program at Goddard College and the MFA in Children’s Writing program at Hamline University. Smith will visit Kenneth Spencer Research Library to work on the United African American Aviators Project and publish a nonfiction book for young readers about Cornelius Coffey and other African American aviators who came together to form the Challenger Air Pilots Association in the 1930s.

Charisse Burden-Stelly is an assistant professor of Africana studies and political science at Carleton College. Burden-Stelly will visit Kenneth Spencer Research Library to work on a manuscript titled “Professional Revolutionary: The Political Theory of Doxey Wilkerson, 1930-1960,” which will explore Wilkerson's radical political and social thought — including his critiques of racial capitalism, white supremacy and war between 1930 and 1960. 

The Alyce Hunley Whayne Visiting Researchers Travel Award extends travel funds to any external faculty member, undergraduate, graduate student or independent researcher who is undertaking a research project on the African American experience in Kansas using materials in Spencer Research Library. The library holds significant collections on the African American experience, including personal and family papers and organizational records, providing a valuable repository for primary sources.

The award was made possible by a generous gift from Sandra Gautt in honor of her late mother, Alyce Hunley Whayne. Gautt has also donated family papers to the Kansas Collection in Spencer Research Library. 

“KU Libraries are grateful for Sandra’s generosity and dedication to KU Libraries,” said Kevin L. Smith, dean of libraries. “We are always thrilled to host the Whayne award winners and hear more about their fascinating work.”