Advisor: Mark M. Smith

Education: BA in English, Arts Studies Minor, Magna Cum Laude, N.C. State University, 1993

Kay is a first-year PhD student. One of her passions is vintage motorcycles – to her, these machines are history in motion. She is currently President of the first woman-focused chapter of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America – the Riveter Chapter – which Kay formed in 2021. She intends to bring her deep interest of the history of women motorcyclists to her academic studies.

Examining the history of motorcycling pulls at many social and economic threads. There are developments in manufacturing and distribution, the economics and social constraints that control the types of buyers, and the sensory dynamics that create the mystery and power around these machines. Additionally, there are sub-cultures which grew and developed around the sport, and the sometimes-hostile relationships among these groups have drastically affected the current understanding of motorcycle culture. Kay wishes to examine the subject within the larger social, economic and political contexts to present motorcycle culture fully formed and breathing.

Originally from the South, Kay spent the last 25 years in the Buffalo, NY area. She is beyond thrilled to have returned South and to call Columbia home. She has been owned by Boykin Spaniels since 1988, and she has informed her current Boykin, Riggs, that his job is to get her through graduate school.