Alyssa P. Cole, Assistant Professor of African American Studies at the University of Florida, and Brooke A. Thomas, African American History Postdoctoral Scholar at Pennsylvania State University, have been selected as the recipients of the 2024 Alyce Hunley Whayne Visiting Researchers Travel Award from KU Libraries. Cole and Thomas will visit KU and the Spencer Library June 24-27 with a joint public presentation at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, June 26, in the Johnson Room. The presentation is free and open to the public. 

Cole, who completed her Ph.D. in history at KU in 2022, will return to campus to research Black women activists’ role in increasing medical equity in Kansas City during the early twentieth century. Thomas is researching a book on the role of Black collegiate sororities in political advocacy and leadership development.