Career Discovery in Historic Preservation, Fall 2019

Join us in a lively conversation about Preservation and Professionalism. Five Penn Preservation alumni representing various facets of preservation practice will discuss the dimensions and scope of the profession as well as the responsibilities, authority, and ethics of the preservation professional. Our panelists will address the topic from their respective domains of expertise including policy and governance, design, conservation, public history, and education. The discussion will provide an overview of the role of preservation in relation to its allied disciplines and the relevance of historic preservation to contemporary social and environmental issues. The conversation will be moderated by Frank Matero, chair of the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation. Please consider attending our Weitzman School fall 2019 Open House, which includes the Career Discovery in Historic Preservation panel.

Moderator:

Frank Matero serves as chair of the graduate program in historic preservation and as professor of architecture. Professor Matero is founder and director of the Architectural Conservation Laboratory and is Editor-in-Chief of Change Over Time journal. His teaching and research are focused on historic building technology and the conservation of building materials, with an emphasis on masonry and earthen construction, the conservation of archaeological sites, and issues related to preservation and appropriate technology for traditional societies and places. He has consulted on a wide range of conservation projects including the fortifications of Cairo and San Juan (Puerto Rico), Drayton Hall, the Guggenheim Museum and Trinity Church (New York), the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, Ellis Island, and the missions of California and Texas. His archaeological site work includes Mesa Verde, Casa Grande, Bandelier, Fort Union and Fort Davis, El Morro, and Indian Key in the United States, Gordion and Catal hoyuk in Turkey, and Chiripa in Bolivia.

He is a Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works and former Co-chair of the Research and Technical Studies Group and on the editorial boards of Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites, the Journal of Architectural Conservation, and Cultural Resource Management. He has served on numerous professional boards including US/ICOMOS, Heritage Preservation, the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, the AIA Historic Resources Committee, and the Fairmount Park Historic Preservation Trust, and The Woodlands.

Panelists:

Joan M. Brierton (MSHP’92) is a senior historic preservation specialist with the U.S. General Services Administration's (GSA) Center for Historic Buildings. As a recognized compliance expert, she is responsible for oversight of Section 106 regulatory review for GSA restoration, redevelopment and new construction projects. In 1999, Brierton was detailed by GSA to the White House Millennium Council where she managed the federal Save America's Treasures program. In 2014, Brierton served as producer for the documentary film Victor Lundy: Sculptor of Space which chronicled the life and career of modern era master architect, Victor A. Lundy. In 2006, in her capacity as a trustee for the D.C., Preservation League, Brierton chaired ‘DC Modern: Inventory, Issues and Impact,’ Washington’s first symposium to comprehensively address mid-century modern architecture in the Nation’s Capital.  Brierton published her first book, American Restoration Style: Victorian in 1998 and most recently contributed to the 2018 Princeton Architectural Press publication Victor Lundy, Artist Architect.

John Carr (MSHP’95) has been working in the field of architectural conservation since 1990. As the principal conservator of Materials Conservation Co., LLC, he is responsible for overseeing the management and strategic planning of the firm’s diverse spectrum of conservation projects as well as the marketing and promotion of the firm. Prior to founding Materials Conservation in 2006, Carr served as the senior architectural conservator for John Milner Architects, Inc., as executive director of the Fairmount Park Historic Preservation Trust, and architectural conservator at Spencer Higgins Architect in Toronto. He serves on the Board of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, The Dean’s Council for the Weitzman School of Design, and the GSA Register of Peer Professionals. Carr is a professional associate with the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC) and is a professional member of the Canadian Association of Heritage Professionals (CAHP).

Cory Kegerise (MSHP’03) is the community preservation coordinator for Eastern Pennsylvania at the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office and is based at historic Hope Lodge in Fort Washington, Montgomery County. He provides technical assistance on a wide variety of preservation-related issues to local governments, community organizations, and individuals in a region stretching from Philadelphia to Wayne County. Immediately prior to joining PHMC, Kegerise was the administrator of Local Programs at the Maryland Historical Trust and has also served as the executive director of the Elfreth’s Alley Association, worked as a consultant, and as a grants manager for a National & State Heritage Area. He lives in Philadelphia and holds a Master’s Degree in Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor’s Degree in Historic Preservation from the University of Mary Washington.

Monica Rhodes (MSHP’12) is the director of Resource Management at the National Park Foundation. In this role, Rhodes oversees preservation grant making to the National Park Service. Prior to her role at NPF, Rhodes was the founding director of the National Trust’s HOPE (Hands - On Preservation Experience) Crew, which was created to expand the preservation movement to a younger, more diverse audience. In the five years of leading HOPE Crew, Rhodes guided over 165 preservation construction projects, trained 750 young people and veterans, and engaged 3700 volunteers in large-scale community events. Under her leadership, the program garnered more than 1 Billion media impressions and supported $18 million of preservation work, primarily in national parks. Prior to joining the Trust, Rhodes worked as a consultant to preservation non-profits.

Rhodes' work has been featured in national outlets like, PBS NewsHour, Huffington Post, Washington Post and U.S. News & World Report. She also appeared in a feature spread on women in the preservation movement in Essence Magazine’s Spring 2018 issue.

Separate from her work on HOPE Crew, Rhodes sits on the Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) in Baltimore City, serves as an advisor for the DC LGBTQ Historic Context Study, and a project reviewer for the Facilities and Buildings grant program for the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Rhodes received her undergraduate degree in History at the University of Tulsa and a Master’s degree in African American Studies at Temple University. She also attended the University of Pennsylvania where she received a Master’s degree in Historic Preservation. 

Nate Rogers, (MArch’11, MSHP’11), AIA is a senior associate at Beyer Blinder Belle, a design, preservation, and planning practice in New York. Rogers is currently responsible for the renovation and rehabilitation of Adams House, Harvard’s largest residential college. His body of work also includes new design, master planning, and renovation for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Toledo Museum of Art. His research interests include the ethical aspects of relating new design to historic fabric.