I am a young preservation professional, passionate about historical and cultural resources, and the implications of the care and management of these resources on the broader community and world as a whole. I have a special interest in the ways in which humans interact with their environments, and believe that preservation and adaptive reuse can be a valuable tools in creating and sustaining vibrant, healthy communities.
When I started as an undergraduate at the University of Delaware in 2004, I thought I wanted to major in psychology, to ultimately become a speech pathologist. But as I progressed in my coursework and took classes in art history, anthropology, chemistry and art, I realized that my passion lies in art and architecture, the preservation of which can contribute to society on not only cultural and historical levels, but social, economic and environmental ones as well. The Art Conservation program at University of Delaware allowed me to explore the idea of conservation on a deeper level, and I completed an internship treating and consolidating a Russian icon from the University Collection. Though I loved paintings conservation, I recognized that my true desire was to work with the built environment.
Although I had not initially planned on going directly to grad school, following graduation, I enrolled in UNC Greensboro’s M.S. Interior Architecture/historic preservation program and completed one year there, taking undergraduate design classes and graduate preservation courses. My time at UNCG not only gave me a firmer theoretical basis for preservation, but also a practical one, especially in terms of sustainability and adaptive reuse. It also allowed me to develop my design knowledge through studio and visual communication classes.
For the fall of 2009, I travelled to the island of Corfu, Greece, working on an endangered pony farm located on a centuries-old estate. The town of Corfu is indescribably beautiful, and is illustrative of the sort of ideal, vibrant downtown environment that enforces the human scale, promotes walkability and incorporates cosmopolitan life into a historic core.
Now in my second year of graduate study in University of Pennsylvania's M.S. Historic Preservation, I am ready to begin my search for a fulfilling career.
