Dr. Urkevich is an Associate Professor of musicology/ethnomusicology at the American University of Kuwait (AUK) where she also serves as the Division Head of the Humanities and Arts Division (www.auk.edu.kw). Her research covers a wide range of topics including music of the Arabian Peninsula, World Music, Gender and Music, and Renaissance music. Her main cultural focus is on the artistic and folk traditions of Arabia, especially Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Professor Urkevich lived in Saudi Arabia for almost four years (1994-98) where she undertook research, and she remains active in Saudi fieldwork while residing in Kuwait. She has also interviewed and recorded "sha'bi" groups of Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates and is highly involved in Kuwaiti fieldwork: she spent two years as a US Senior Fulbright Research Scholar in Kuwait. She currently continues her Arabian Peninsula scholarship as director of the AUK Arabian Heritage Project, where she and her students are leaders in the investigation of regional sea (bahri), city (HaThar), and desert (baraari) traditions.

Dr. Urkevich has taught extensively on both western and non-western music at various universities including Boston University, Bucknell University, the University of Maryland, and Millersville University. She has lectured on her research in the US, Europe, and the Arab World. She has been a guest on "Good Morning Kuwait" and articles about her and her work have appeared in various publications including the Correspondence, Arabian Woman, Assiyahi, and Al Watan.

Dr. Urkevich's Renaissance music specialization deals with northern European manuscripts and the musical culture of women and girls ca 1500.  She is also interested in performance practice of Renaissance (and Arabian) cultures. She conducted the Boston University Collegium Musicum for three years during which time the ensemble performed her editions from the "Anne Boleyn Music Book."