Our program empowers and prepares the next generation of preservation professionals for meaningful careers in historic preservation, cultural resource stewardship, and heritage conservation. Through interdisciplinary training and hands-on learning, students gain the knowledge and skills needed to protect and sustain the built environment and cultural heritage for future generations. As an MA program we are related to the American Studies Program.

Boston and New England have long been at the forefront of the historic preservation movement, shaping national practice and influencing the field globally. This rich legacy, combined with Boston University's longstanding commitment to environmental responsibility, community engagement, and interdisciplinary scholarship, provides an inspiring context for the Preservation Studies Program. Drawing on these strengths, the program offers a dynamic curriculum that prepares graduates to become stewards of change and lead the future of preservation with creativity, expertise, and purpose.

Preservation requires careful reflection on cultural values, place and identity, underrepresented heritage, community, social and political narratives, meaning and memory, adaptive reuse, and global trends. We stimulate students to think critically about principles and processes, as well as diversity and equality, and to allow for decisions that support sustainability in managing change.