The Joukowsky Family Foundation Outstanding Dissertation Award is an annual prize awarded  to four students by the Graduate School for superior achievements in research by students who are completing their Ph.Ds. Awards are given to one student from each of the four main areas of study: the humanities, the life sciences, the physical sciences, and the social sciences.

This year, the Classics Department is proud to announce that Erika Valdivieso has received the Outstanding Dissertation Award representing the humanities. Erika's dissertation, “The Virgilian Tradition in Colonial Latin America,” utilizes Latin, Spanish and Portuguese sources to reconstruct the context in which Latin poetry was taught, received, and produced in colonial Latin America. Erika writes:

“This dissertation offers the first paradigmatic study of Latin poetry written in colonial Latin America in the style of Virgil. This collection of bucolic, didactic and epic texts from the region do not constitute a new species of the Virgilian tradition but rather show how complex and diverse that tradition is. These Virgils are important for those interested in the legacy of classical texts as well as in the development of Latin American literature. These poems offer a timely reminder that the classical past belongs to many cultures and highlight a variety of avenues for those interested in the transformations of classical literature.”

Erika will receive a certificate for the award, along with an honorarium. Congratulations Erika.