Erin Wiser, an Art History major in her senior year of undergraduate studies, is the runner-up winner for the UGA Libraries Undergraduate Research Award. Wiser will receive an award certificate at the CURO Symposium awards ceremony at the Classic Center on Monday, April 3, 2017, in addition to a prize of $450. Since 2007, the UGA Libraries has sponsored the Undergraduate Research Awards, which provide cash prizes for excellence in research and academic inquiry. The judges selected her essay from a large pool of impressive applicants because of its creativity, tenacity in research, and scholastic sophistication.

Wiser’s essay, "The Foreign Ambience of F.D. Millet's 'A Pompeian Girl,'" derived from research she pursued in Topics in 18th and 19th European Art, taught by Dr. Alisa Luxenberg. For the paper, Wiser did original research on the painting, which is held in the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State University. Wiser traced the painting’s provenance and exhibition history in addition to exploring questions of thematic imagery and genre.

Wiser recently presented another paper at the 16th Annual Georgia Undergraduate Art History Forum on March 3, 2017. “The Meaning of Provenance and Mimetic Nature of Collector’s Desire: Fragonard at the Frick,” based on research undertaken during a class with Dr. Asen Kirin, was selected as one of the 15 papers given by students from 8 Georgia colleges and universities. In the upcoming year, Wiser hopes to return to her hometown of Philadelphia, PA and pursue internships in museums while applying to graduate programs for a degree in historic preservation and architectural conservation.

Best wishes to Erin as she continues to pursue excellence in art history!