The Cuban Research Institute (CRI) is pleased to announce the appointment of Petra Kuivala as a Visiting Scholar during the 2016–17 academic year. Ms. Kuivala will conduct research for her doctoral dissertation on "Identity and Development of the Catholic Church in Revolutionary Cuba, 1959–1986." During her stay in Miami, she intends to work in the archives of the Catholic Church in Florida and conduct interviews with Cuban Catholics in the area. She will also consult FIU's numerous collections and library resources, such as the Cuban Living History Project, the Cuban Exile Archives, and the Operation Pedro Pan collection. Ms. Kuivala has received a scholarship from the ASLA–Fulbright Graduate Grant program for studies in the United States for one academic year. Her period of residency at FIU will be fully funded by the University of Helsinki, the Fulbright Center, and the Church Research Center of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland.
Petra Kuivala is a doctoral student in Theology at the University of Helsinki in Finland. She holds master's and bachelor's degrees in Theology from the same institution. She has also served as pastor and sacristan in various dioceses of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. She has taught theology at the University of Helsinki and Finnish language, history, and social studies at several secondary and elementary schools. She has previously conducted fieldwork in Cuba for her doctoral dissertation.
