West Virginia University Libraries has selected three undergraduate students as the 2025 Robert F. Munn Library Scholars Award recipients. Undergraduate students Ren Kully, Bailey South and Siegrid Tuttle were selected out of a competitive pool of exceptional humanities or social sciences research paper submissions.
Along with a $1,000 award, their names will be added to a plaque in the WVU Downtown Library and their theses added to the Research Repository @ WVU. Their papers can be read at researchrepository.wvu.edu/munn.
“We at WVU Libraries are pleased to recognize Ren Kully, Bailey South and Siegrid Tuttle as Munn Scholars,” Dean of WVU Libraries Karen Diaz said. “They rose to the top for their thoroughly researched topics and impressive works of scholarship.”
Kully was named a Munn Scholar for their thesis titled, “From Bones to Bias: Exploring Demographic Gaps in the West Virginia University Osteological Collection,” which explores historical biases surrounding osteological collections and highlights the need for equitable representation, ethical stewardship and revised methods to mitigate bias in osteological teaching and research.
“Overall, using WVU Libraries was a central part of my academic work on this project. The experience went beyond simply finding articles; it taught me how to think more critically about research, to use digital tools more effectively and to engage more deeply with scholarly work,” said Kully.
South was named a Munn Scholar for her thesis titled, “The Man, the Myth, the Mothman: Cryptid Folklore and West Virginian Identity Formation,” which analyzes the opinions of West Virginians about state identity and cryptids folklore in relation to the reclamation of the West Virginian identity, ultimately addressing research gaps with an anthropological and identity-based lens.
“Receiving this award is incredibly meaningful to me, and a testament to the role WVU Libraries has had in my undergraduate career. Libraries has been invaluable throughout all of my time at WVU, but especially this past spring semester as I researched my anthropology capstone paper. The assistance of librarians in researching my topic, the availability of books on anthropology and folklore, the West Virginia & Regional History Center and the Appalachian Collection were all significant contributors to the successful completion of my research,” said South.
Tuttle was named a Munn Scholar for their thesis, “The Rise and Fall of U.S. Support for Operation Condor,” which explores the understudied relationship between South American dictatorships and the United States during Operation Condor.
“From beginning to finish, this research would have been impossible without the resources provided by WVU libraries and guidance from WVU’s librarians,” said Tuttle.
WVU Libraries and WVU Honors College established the Robert F. Munn Library Scholars Award in 2008 to honor Dr. Robert F. Munn, dean of library services from 1957-1986. The award goes to one or more students for an outstanding humanities or social sciences thesis based on original research using resources from WVU Libraries. Past and present Munn Scholar papers can be read at researchrepository.wvu.edu/munn.