The Phi Beta Kappa Society Announces 2026 Winner of the Mary Isabel Sibley Fellowship 

WASHINGTON, DC – September 21, 2026 – The Phi Beta Kappa Society has selected Allison Grenda as the winner of the 2026 Mary Isabel Sibley Fellowship. Established in 1934 by Isabelle Stone (ΦΒΚ, Wellesley College) in honor of her mother, this fellowship recognizes exceptional young scholars in the field of French or Greek language, literature, and culture. 

Grenda is a Ph.D. candidate in the History of Art at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She specializes in the art, architecture, and archaeology of the Byzantine Empire, with a particular focus on urbanism and cross-cultural exchange. Grenda earned her master’s degree from the University of California, Davis, and her bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her work has been recognized by organizations including the Archaeological Institute of America and the International Center of Medieval Art, and she has worked on archaeological projects in Greece, North Macedonia, Italy, and California. 

The Sibley Fellowship awards Grenda with a stipend of $20,000 to support her dissertation, “The Art of Crisis: Urban Destruction and Renewal in Byzantine Greece, 4th–15th Centuries.” Her project examines how intercultural violence and population displacement shaped the urban landscapes and visual cultures of medieval mainland Greece. Drawing on archaeological, architectural, and sculptural remains alongside primary source texts, Grenda seeks to better understand how local communities responded to periods of crisis and change. 

Grenda will to use the fellowship to conduct research at archaeological sites and churches in Epiros and the Peloponnese, as well as at academic libraries in Athens. The research will support the completion of her dissertation, which will ultimately form the basis of her first monograph. 

Applications for the 2027 Sibley Fellowship will open in mid-fall 2026. Learn more at pbk.org/awards/sibley-fellowship.