Academic Enrichment: Participation in a Research Fellowship (7 pts) Ayanna Lonon

This summer, I had the transformative opportunity to attend the UNCF Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Summer Institute at Emory University. Over four weeks, I lived and studied with 20 fellows from HBCUs across the country, participating in an intensive academic writing and research program. Each day, we followed a demanding schedule focused on academic writing, research development, and career planning. We received daily instruction from Emory librarians on best practices for utilizing academic resources and archives. We also collaborated with PhD candidates and graduate students in the digital humanities, who shared their experiences balancing academic work, research, and life — especially as international students. We attended lectures by Mellon Mays alumni and faculty, which gave me a deeper appreciation of the program's history and the strength of its academic network. 

One pivotal moment for me was hearing from Dr. Fluker, curator of African American collections at Emory. His lecture introduced me to the possibilities of archival work and curatorial practice, fields I had never seriously considered. This exposure sparked my newfound interest in the Spelman Archives and the AUC Woodruff Library Archives, which I’ve since visited several times since returning to campus.

Throughout the program, I developed a research prospectus on Black cultural production, which required extensive reading and refinement. I expected to leave with a clear research outline, but instead, I left with a deeper awareness of the complexity of the research journey. This shift—from needing answers to embracing exploration—has shaped my academic perspective.

Living in residence again after a year alone was challenging, but I found joy in the community of scholars. I made friends not only from Spelman and Morehouse, but from schools like Fisk, Xavier, and Huston-Tillotson(which I had never even heard of before this). My peers' research on topics like Black Marxism, Afrofuturism, and Pleasure Activism opened my eyes to different applications and possibilities in my own work. I left the Summer Institute changed as not only a better researcher, but as a better member of a scholarly Black community. The UNCF Mellon Mays Fellowship has shown me that research is not just analytical—it’s deeply personal. 

By: Ayanna Lonon