President’s Award Recognizes Katy Chiles for Collaborations in Diversity
The 2024 University of Tennessee President’s Awards recognized Associate Professor Katy Chiles, Department of English, with the Embrace Diversity Award for her teaching and collaborations in projects that elevate ways in which individual and organizational uniqueness makes UT stronger.
Chiles teaches and writes about African American and Native American literature, early American literature and culture, and print cultures. In affiliation with UT’s Department of Africana Studies, she also teaches courses such as Major Black Writers, the Antebellum Black Atlantic and Black American Literature and Aesthetics.
She is also instrumental in two specific campus and community projects that speak to the theme of this award, Frederick Douglass Day (FDD) and the Phyllis Wheatley Poetry Project.
“I have been extraordinarily lucky to work with these two teams, along with my colleagues in English, Africana Studies, and the Critical Race Collective, which has taught me a great deal about the fight for racial equity, for social justice, and for an intersectional, collective liberation,” said Chiles.
Frederick Douglass Teamwork
Chiles helped grow UT FDD events into a leading program in the nation-wide network of anchor sites for the annual event.
“Her consistent leadership in these efforts, both pre- and post-covid, have built up a sense of engagement through scholarly projects that involve undergraduates and area high school students,” said Professor Misty Anderson, head of the English department.
Chiles cites a campus-wide joint effort in the success of this event, including faculty, staff, and both graduate and undergraduate students who have contributed to making this yearly event a highlight of Black History Month over the past eight years.
“The national Frederick Douglass Day was conceived by the Center for Black Digital Research and the Colored Conventions Project as fundamentally collaborative,” said Chiles. “The same holds true for FDD here at UT.”
For ongoing FDD observation and events, Chiles has worked with campus colleagues Shaina Anderson, Anne Langendorfer, Mark Tabone, Robert Bland, DeLisa Hawkes, Danielle Procope-Bell, Joshua Ortiz Baco, Paris Whalon, Eliza Alexander Wilcox, Emily Harrison, Henry Kirby, Matt Smith, and Savannah Brown.
“Shaina Anderson and Eliza Alexander Wilcox in particular have led our recent FDDs with transformative vision that helps us continue to develop the many related events and our outreach to community partners such as The Bottom,” said Chiles. “The President’s Award shows how important FDD is to building community within and without the walls of UT and to participating in the archiving of Black literature and history. FDD would not exist without all the contributions of each member of our team.”
History, Poetry, and Community
The Phyllis Wheatley Poetry Project, named for the woman who was the first Black person to publish a book of poetry in colonial America, provides afterschool and summer programming for students to help them succeed in school and life. It began with a recognition of work and services provided to students in East Knoxville by the YWCA Phyllis Wheatley Center (PWC).
The program initially encouraged mostly middle-school aged after-school groups at the YWCA to write their own poetry. Then-graduate student Josh Mangle later transformed and continued this workshop as a student reading group
“Chiles oversaw the training of seven graduate students to work with minors and held a host of meetings with various leaders in the YWCA community to make sure that the idea launched into sustained action,” said Anderson. “The seeds that she planted, in terms of relationships, faithfulness to the project, and enthusiasm that bubbled over into our graduate community, continue to bear fruit.”
Chiles and UT graduate students worked with PWC Director Kathy Mack on a series of workshops with the students on the work of Wheatley and Knoxville-born poet Nikki Giovanni, whose famous poem “Knoxville, Tennessee” resonated with the students. They then wrote their own poems about their lives in Knoxville.
“UT alumnus Kelly Frawley helped run this series of workshops, and UT alumnus Josh Mangle significantly expanded the project into a full-blown Young Adult Reading Group,” said Chiles. “Our graduate students read with, hung out with, and mentored the students involved in the PWC programs over a number of years. Mangle led this effort that became a celebration of relationships and of Black literature, past and present.”
Honoring Shared Values
Fifteen faculty and staff members from across the UT System received President’s awards in recognition and celebration of their accomplishments and dedication to the University and its Be One UT values. Award recipients were nominated by campus and institute leaders and selected from a systemwide pool.
They will be honored by the president and his Be One UT cabinet during a special luncheon in August.
“The President’s Awards highlight the exceptional work and commitment demonstrated by our faculty and staff throughout Tennessee,” Boyd said. “Their contributions are invaluable in making this the greatest decade in UT history. It is an honor and privilege to work alongside them in serving the people of our great state.”
by Randall Brown