PHILADELPHIA-- Emily Wilson, assistant professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, is the recipient of a 2004-2005 American Council of Learned Society Fellowship.

ACLS made awards totaling more than $2.3 million dollars to 60 scholars for postdoctoral research in the humanities and humanities-related social sciences.

From 926 applicants, awards were made to 25 women and 35 men for research periods of six months to one year.  The Fellows are affiliated with 48 institutions in the United States and one in Canada.

Wilson was awarded $30,000, to be used in conjunction with the $20,000 Rome Prize, which she won earlier this year.  She will use the awards to work in Rome on her forthcoming book, "The Death of Socrates: Reflections and Constructions after Plato."  The book will focus on the changing meanings of the story of Socrates' death, from Plato and Zenophon to the present day.

Wilson, who is also doing a new translation of Seneca's tragedies, said, " I am interested in how Socrates' death is recalled in the depiction of other deaths, martyrdoms and executions and in how the idea of Socrates has informed later concepts of individuality and the self."

Wilson's scholarly interests cover many aspects of Greek and Latin poetry and drama, the classical tradition and the reception of classical literature in the Renaissance.