Career Discovery in Historic Preservation

Join us in a lively conversation about Preservation and Professionalism. 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 Randall Mason, chair of the Department of Historic Preservation. Please consider attending our Weitzman School fall 2025 Open House, which includes the Career Discovery in Historic Preservation panel.

Moderator:

Randy Mason is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Historic Preservation at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design, where he also holds appointments in the Departments of City & Regional Planning and Landscape Architecture. His teaching and research focus on preservation history and theory, historic preservation planning, urban conservation, social justice, and cultural landscape studies. He has been at Penn since 2004, serving as HSPV Chair from 2009-2017 and Executive Director of PennPraxis from 2014-2017. Read full bio here.

Confirmed Panelists:

Héctor J. Berdecía-Hernández (MSHP’20), M.Sc., Assoc. AIA (He/Him), is an Architectural Conservator and the founding Director-General of the Centro de Conservación y Restauración de Puerto Rico (CENCOR). He is also an Adjunct Professor of Heritage Conservation at the University of Puerto Rico and at the Graduate Program in Architectural Conservation and Rehabilitation at the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico. Berdecía-Hernández’s concentration at Penn was in Architectural Materials Conservation. He also attended joint Conservation Science courses within Georgetown University and the Universitá degli Studi de Firenze. His teaching and research focus on the history of traditional building technology and the conservation of historic building materials, particularly masonry mortars, concrete, and cementitious materials. Berdecía-Hernández is a Professional Member and Chair Emeritus of the Architecture Specialty Group of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC), is a member of the International Council on Monuments and Sites -ICOMOS, the International Council of Museums (ICOM), the International Institute for Conservation (IIC), the Association for Preservation Technology International (APTi), and an elected member of the College of Young Practitioners of the International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism (INTBAU). 

Cara Bertron (MSP’11) works to shape more equitable places through community and cultural preservation. She is currently managing the City of Austin’s new Equity-Based Preservation Plan, which was drafted by a community working group with input from thousands of Austinites. Cara’s work has been nationally recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions, Preservation Action, and the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2). Her favorite public places are Rittenhouse Square, Oslo’s central library, and Barton Springs at night.

Nate Hammitt (MSHP’16, MARCH'16) is a licensed architect with 15 years of experience working in architecture and design. As part of his dual-degree program at Penn (2012-2016), his thesis explored adaptive reuse scenarios for vacant public schools in Philadelphia, culminating in employment with Scout during the renovation of the Bok Building in South Philadelphia. Over his career, he has worked for eight architecture firms and four public sector/non-profit organizations in locations as varied as Cape Town, South Africa, Bogota, Colombia, New York, Fort Wayne, and Cincinnati, Ohio. Over the past five years, he has served as Director and Project Architect for Work Architecture in Louisville, Kentucky, where he partners with diverse clients on the renovation of large historic properties and the construction of new buildings in historic contexts. Last year, his company was responsible for 40% of the Historic Tax Credit projects in the state of Kentucky, with a special focus on the adaptive reuse of large vacant structures in urban environments.

Arielle Harris (MSHP’17) is a SOI-qualified architectural historian who has worked in the preservation field since 2013. During her time at Penn, she focused on gaining public sector work experience as well as pro bono advocacy and research opportunities. Since 2018, she has worked for FEMA as an Environmental Protection Specialist, where her duties have ranged from Section 106 compliance to deployments all over the country for disaster response activities, and even working on the ground at a COVID-19 vaccination site. She hopes to continue advancing her career at the agency while supporting preservation advocacy efforts in the Philadelphia region, something she worked closely on with the guidance and mentorship of Professor Aaron Wunsch.

Please email Kali Meeks (kmeeks@design.upenn.edu), Director of Professional Development & Leadership - Weitzman Student Services, for Zoom link.

If you require any accessibility accommodation, such as live captioning, audio description, or a sign language interpreter, please email news@design.upenn.edu. Please note, we require at least five (5) business days’ notice.