This fellowship is named for Katherine “Kay” W. Fanning (1927-2000), an innovative and influential newspaper editor and publisher who served on the Kettering Foundation board of directors for 12 years and was chair of the board from 1994 to 1996. Between 1966 and 1983, she led the Anchorage Daily News, which, under her stewardship, won a Pulitzer Prize for public service. Fanning also served as editor of the Christian Science Monitor from 1983 to 1988, and, in 1987, she was the first woman to serve as president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

On the Kettering Foundation board, Fanning gave a steady voice to the need for news media to act with ethical standards and for journalistic practices to serve the interests of democracy. Her commitment to those ideals sparked the foundation’s exploration of what became known as public journalism, which emphasized journalists’ responsibility in a democracy to help people deliberate over important issues in their communities. She also had a keen interest in the foundation’s international work and often brought the two interests together.