Kansas University Chancellor Robert Hemenway will lead an entourage of KU officials on a 10-day trip to Europe beginning Thursday.

The trip, paid for with private funds, is designed for the group to meet with KU alumni and potential donors. More than 1,000 graduates and others have been invited to receptions in Berlin and London.

Hemenway’s itinerary includes delivering a lecture at Humboldt University in Berlin on Jan. 27. Hemenway will discuss Zora Neale Hurston, the novelist that the chancellor wrote a book about in 1977.

Others traveling to Europe are Jeff Weinberg, assistant to the chancellor; Kick Cerny, senior vice president for membership services with the KU Alumni Association; Dale Seuferling, president of the KU Endowment Association; and Hodgie Bricke, assistant dean of the KU graduate school and international programs.