Classics research awarded grant

What does Melissa Morison, associate professor of Classics, have in common with Benjamin Franklin? An interest in the promotion of useful knowledge, and for Morison, a Franklin Research Grant to do so.

Morison has been awarded the $5,000 grant from the American Philosophical Society, a national scholarly society founded by Benjamin Franklin. Her grant is from one of several programs it offers in support of research in both the sciences and humanities. 

"The grant will support my archaeological research in Greece this summer," said Morison. "I am working on a book that explores the social function of ceramics, in the ancient port town of Kenchreai, during the Roman occupation of Greece."

Morison is analyzing the ways that material culture was used, in both domestic and funerary contexts, to negotiate status in the community and communicate ethnicity during a period of rapid political and social change.