RESIDENT RECEIVES  FELLOWSHIP THAT RECOGNIZES RESEARCH


	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., July 22 -- Michelle Baldwin of
LYNCHBURG has received a fellowship from the American Association of
University Women Educational Foundation to complete her graduate
work at the University of Virginia.  
	Awarded July 1, the $14,500 American Fellowship will allow
Baldwin to finish her dissertation about ancient paintings in the
Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii. Her investigation of the first
century B.C. Greco-Roman paintings indicates that women played a
large role in the myth of Dionysos, the ancient god of wine.
	Baldwin says there is also some evidence to suggest that the
series of Dionysiac paintings could have been commissioned by a
womenÕs religious cult.  She delivered a paper on her dissertation
topic at a 1993 joint meeting of the Archaeological Institute of
America and the American Philological Association.
	American Fellowships, which support doctoral and
postdoctoral study by women in the United States, are awarded on the
basis of scholarly excellence, teaching experience and active
commitment to helping women through service in the community,
profession and/or field of research.
	Prior to receiving the fellowship, Baldwin was given a
Graduate Fellowship in Art History from the Virginia Museum of Fine
Arts. The 1992-93 grant supported her continuing graduate work in
art history.
	Baldwin, who earned a B.A. in art history from Lynchburg
College in 1986 and an M.A. in art history from U.Va. in 1991, had
her research on Buddhist paintings published last year in an
oriental art journal, Artibus Asiae.  She has also completed
research on early Christian and Jewish paintings from Syria.  She
delivered a paper on that topic at the LÕAssociation Internationale
pour lÕEtude de la Mosaique Antique in 1992 and will deliver another
paper on the paintings at the associationÕs October meeting.
	Baldwin expects to complete her dissertation by next spring
in order to earn a doctorate of philosophy degree in art history
from U.Va.
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For more information, Baldwin can be reached at (804) 384-2420.