Glaze of glory: Research has never been so delicious

July 31, 2026

By Chandra Blackwell

For Kelly Gregg and his wife, Karen, supporting medical research requires more than just money; it also requires a little love. And for the Greggs, that love comes in a box of doughnuts.

The “hole” story began in the early ‘90s, when Kelly was studying to earn a Ph.D. in geography from KU — an experience that’s given him a lifetime of empathy for graduate students. “They do twice as much work for one-tenth of the money as your average tenured professor,” he says.

Even after years as a tenured professor himself at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama, Kelly (now a professor emeritus) has not forgotten the intensity of being a graduate student — and the way a simple gesture could lift the spirits.

“I remember sitting in Lindley Hall,” he says, “[where] we had a big office full of graduate students. Any given morning, there’d be people in there grading papers or writing lectures or mulling over their dissertations. It’d be kind of a stressful situation. And then intermittently, someone would just magically show up at the door with a dozen doughnuts.

“Suddenly,” he recalls, “that dull day became … the best day. It was such a day-brightener for a bunch of somewhat overworked graduate students to have something as simple as a box of doughnuts show up.”

For her part, Karen Gregg — who worked as prospect researcher at KU Endowment while Kelly pursued his Ph.D., and then as a graduation certification adviser for the College of Arts and Sciences at Jacksonville State — has always considered students the center of their work. “More than anything else, we’re student oriented,” she says.
For this reason, the Greggs specifically chose to support student research, in the form of an endowed fund that distributes annual research awards of $1,000 each to three KU medical students.

The Greggs began endowing the award in 2010, with an initial focus on research related to Alzheimer’s disease and cancer — diseases that have touched the lives of many people they know and love.

“Certainly, all of us baby boomers aren’t getting any younger, so that research is very important,” says Kelly.

“Then, when COVID started,” adds Karen, “we decided maybe we needed to think about infectious diseases, which weren’t really on our radar.”

In addition to funding these areas of research, though, the Greggs — recalling Kelly’s experience as a graduate student at KU — have made doughnuts a non-negotiable part of the award: In addition to a check, each winner receives a dozen fresh doughnuts.

“The money is kind of intangible,” Kelly says. “It’s not like they’re handing you a pack of dollar bills or something — but the doughnuts are very tangible.”

“The money is nice,” Karen laughs, “but the doughnuts are great!”

Well beyond their time at KU, former Gregg Research Award winners fondly recall the sweetest aspect of the award.

Scott Koppel, who earned his Ph.D. in 2021 and M.D. the following year, won the Gregg award in 2016 and still appreciates the Greggs’ support during the early stages of his training. “There can be some incredibly dark days throughout graduate training,” he says. “On those days, it helps immensely to know there are people like the Greggs who believe in young students and show them they are supported — especially if it’s done in such a delicious way.”

Matthew Schaich, who also earned his Ph.D. in 2021 and won the Gregg Award in 2019, says the award “brightened up [his] time in graduate school,” recalling the moment he received it: “I was slightly confused at first [about] the stranger bringing doughnuts to the lab,” he says, but adds that the initial confusion “quickly gave way to delight as I realized I was getting an award, and I happily shared the doughnuts with other members of the lab.”

Although the students may be grateful simply for the sugar boost, the Greggs are very particular about where the doughnuts are sourced: They must come from LaMar’s Donuts — a beloved Kansas City institution for more than 65 years.

When asked about their pastry of choice, Karen answers immediately: “a glazed doughnut.”

“The true test of a doughnut store is a simple glazed doughnut,” Kelly adds. “If they can pull that off well, you know everything’s good.”

Beyond the doughnuts, the Gregg Research Award highlights the broader impact that smaller-scale gifts can have.

When the Greggs first endowed the research fund a little more than 15 years ago, the awards were $100 each. In 2020, along with expanding to include infectious diseases, the awards increased to $1,000 each — an amount that can make a significant difference to a student.

“These gifts are small enough, it would be kind of a drop in the bucket to some major initiative, but they’ll have a huge impact on an individual graduate student,” says Kelly, a longtime KU donor who appreciates the ability to personalize gifts of this size.

Kelly recommends smaller-scale giving, because he likes the ability to tailor gifts specifically to things that are important to the Greggs. Another advantage of smaller gifts, he says, is that they’re a way to determine how an organization handles small donations. “I think KU has done a very good job of this, and if I feel like I can really trust the institution, I’m far more inclined later to make larger gifts in the future — which may mean two dozen doughnuts down the road,” he laughs.

Although the money may be helpful and the doughnuts delightful, the real gift that comes with the Gregg Research Award may lie in the gesture itself — in the simple demonstration of kindness.

“They just want to know somebody cares about them,” Karen says of the students that remain at the heart of the Greggs’ generosity.

“If they feel cared about and they have doughnuts,” Kelly interjects, and Karen completes the thought: “Yeah, that’s even better.”

KU Endowment is the independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fundraising and fund-management foundation for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.

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July 31, 2026