Kilby family gift endows new Graduate Fellowship in Anthropology

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
Office of Media Relations
March 21, 2018

SAN MARCOS – The family of Michael Kilby has made a $100,000 gift to establish a permanent endowment in support of graduate research in anthropology.

Dr. Larry S. Kilby and Cheryl Kilby of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, have worked with David Kilby, an associate professor of anthropology at Texas State University to establish this endowment in honor of Dr. J. Michael Kilby. David Kilby, Ph.D. is the younger brother of Michael Kilby, M.D.

John Michael Kilby Memorial Endowed Graduate Fellowship in Anthropology will annually award multiple grants of at least $2,000 to full-time graduate students pursuing a master's degree or doctorate in anthropology. It is named in honor of the late Dr. Michael Kilby of South Carolina, who passed away in 2015. The family, along with Michael’s wife, Mia Amaya Kilby, is also pursuing an endowed chair in his honor at the Medical University of South Carolina, where Michael Kilby taught and practiced medicine. The Kilby family believes that the two endowments honor his varied interests, which ranged beyond medicine into the arts and social sciences.

“Michael was an accomplished medical doctor and researcher. His research advanced our understanding and treatment of HIV/AIDS while his care and personal attention improved the lives of patients as they faced this disease," David Kilby said. "He was a university-based scholar and teacher, and his interests ranged widely beyond medicine into the arts, sciences, and humanities. Michael was a published poet, a musician, and was enthusiastic about lifelong learning. This endowment benefitting student research in archaeology, biological anthropology and cultural anthropology at Texas State honors his memory and accomplishments.”

The fellowship awards will directly support research activities of Texas State graduate students in the Department of Anthropology. The scholarship selection committee within the department will review the applications and select the recipients.

The endowment gift is eligible for matching funds from the Texas Research Incentive Program (TRIP). If the gift is approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 10 percent of the TRIP match will be designated to Texas State's general research fund to support faculty research, with the remaining 90 percent made available to the Department of Anthropology to augment the research fellowships awarded through the endowment.

About Texas State University

Founded in 1899, Texas State University is among the largest universities in Texas with an enrollment of 38,694 students on campuses in San Marcos and Round Rock. Texas State’s 181,000-plus alumni are a powerful force in serving the economic workforce needs of Texas and throughout the world. Designated an Emerging Research University by the State of Texas, Texas State is classified under “Doctoral Universities: Higher Research Activity,” the second-highest designation for research institutions under the Carnegie classification system.