Spelman College officials announced Wednesday it has created scholarships for two self-identified lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning students and a companion lecture series to explore contemporary issues of race, gender and sexuality.
The Levi Watkins Jr. Scholars Program “will call attention to the importance of making visible the courageous and significant work of LGBTQ scholar activists within and beyond the academy, especially at HBCUs,” Spelman professor Beverly Guy-Sheftall, who is founder of the Spelman Women's Research and Resource Center, said in a news release. The students will be awarded renewable $25,000 scholarships.
The lecture series will bring a variety of scholars, activists and organizers to the campus, located near downtown Atlanta. Guy-Sheftall launched the scholars program and lecture series in May with a pledge of $100,000. The scholarship recipients will be named this fall.
“[T]his gift will present new opportunities for critical conversation on race and sexuality with distinguished scholars and thought leaders, and provide a platform to recognize campus LGBTQ advocates and their scholarly achievements,” said Spelman president Mary Schmidt Campbell.
Watkins was Guy-Sheftall’s cousin and a member of the Women’s Research and Resource Center’s National Advisory Board from its establishment in 2008 until his death in 2015. He implanted the first automatic heart defibrillator in a patient and was instrumental in recruiting minority students to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
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