Olenka Pevny currently holds the position of assistant professor at the University of Richmond. She will spend four months (September–December 2008) researching “Byzantine Imagery in Medieval Kyiv: The Church of St. Cyril of Alexandria and Modern Identity Politics,” looking at the church of St. Cyril in the broader context of middle Byzantine artistic developments. She will examine the veneration of saints and relics, female patronage, the liturgification of images, and the relationship of architectural forms to ecclesiastical requirements. Pevny will also explore the formulation of the modern significance of the church in light of modern political and national ideologies.