Alumni Profile; M.A., 2012
About
I am an active leader across the Massachusetts preservation community, and have over 10 years of experience leading all aspects of critical preservation programs, including research and documentation work, municipal preservation planning and state historic preservation office staff, and serving on a municipal historical commission. With advanced degrees in both historic preservation and regional planning, my passion is strengthening the role of historic preservation within the larger planning processes at the local, regional, and state levels.
What have you been doing since you graduated from BU? Details about your current and past employment? Accomplishments you’re proud of? Challenges you’ve encountered?
I currently work as the Local Government Programs Coordinator at the Massachusetts Historical Commission, serving as a resource for local historic and historic district commissions and municipal staff. I spend most of my day answering questions, guiding folks through local preservation efforts. I also provide trainings on various preservation topics and work on larger planning projects with other agencies and organizations.
How has your time in the Preservation Studies Program shaped your professional and personal lives?
My time at BU provided the solid base of preservation knowledge that has helped me through all different phases of my career. I have worked as a consultant on survey and inventory projects and National Register of Historic Places nominations, knowledge which came from my documentation and architectural history classes at BU. More recently I have moved into a supportive role for local preservationists, and again my knowledge gained at BU on a variety of preservation topics – regulations, physical preservation work, real estate and planning – applies to many of the situations I advise on.
What advice would you give to students in the program looking for careers in preservation? What do you wish you had known when you were first entering the field?
Preservation work is connected to and dependent on so many other fields – planning, construction, real estate, non-profit work. Very often, when you are working to save a building or a place, it does not come down to the history or the style of the building, but the logistics and realities of the world today. So make connections to those other fields, understand how they operate, learn their languages and processes. Then adapt those tools as needed to make your preservation-focused efforts successful.