Career Discovery in Historic Preservation, Fall 2023

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 Frank Matero, chair of the Department of Historic Preservation. Please consider attending our Weitzman School fall 2023 Open House, which includes the Career Discovery in Historic Preservation panel.

Moderator:

Frank Matero serves as Chair, Department of Historic Preservation, and Gonick Family Professor. Matero received his education in anthropology, architectural preservation, and material conservation. As an educator and conservation practitioner, Matero has shaped architectural conservation discourse and practice in the US and abroad for over 35 years.  He is Professor of Architecture and directs the Department of Historic Preservation at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania. He is Director and founder of the Center for Architectural Conservation, a member of the Graduate Group in the Department of Art History, and Research Associate of the University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Previously he was Assistant Professor at Columbia University and Director of the Center for Preservation Research.  He is founder and editor-in-chief of Change Over Time, the international journal on conservation and the built environment published by University of Pennsylvania Press. He has served on numerous editorial and non-profit organization boards including the National Institute for Conservation, US/ICOMOS, the American Institute for Conservation, the Journal of Architectural Conservation, the Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites, and Cultural Resource Management. 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.

Panelists:

Héctor J. Berdecía-Hernández, M.Sc., Assoc. AIA (He/Him, MSHP’20) 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 at the Graduate Program in Architectural Conservation and Rehabilitation at the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico. He received his M.Sc. in Historic Preservation with a concentration in Architectural Materials Conservation from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020 and 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. He currently serves as Program Chair of the Architecture Specialty Group of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC), is an associate member of the International Council on Monuments and Sites -ICOMOS committees on Training and Modern Heritage, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), 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).

Holly Boyer (MSHP’19) is currently Historical Architect at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, PA. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University. She received her Master of Science in Design in Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania through the 1-year post-professional MSD-HP program. She has over thirty years of experience in preservation practice, project management, and contract administration. The range of her project experience includes both buildings that have state, national, and international significance. Her areas of focus include various wood- or timber-framed structures; envelope evaluation and improvements for government buildings and educational facilities; re-roofing of historic structures; and repair and replacement of early twentieth-century materials including masonry veneer and curtainwall systems. She combines traditional preservation techniques with contemporary construction methods to repair and maintain a diverse range of buildings, with the goal of ensuring their longevity and performance, and preserving their cultural significance.

Lauren Reynolds Hall (MSHP’07) is a conservator for the Office of Cultural Heritage in the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations where she oversees conservation initiatives for over 270 Department of State heritage properties around the world.  Prior to assuming her current position in 2018, Lauren was the conservator at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, a National Historic Landmark in Miami, Florida, where she oversaw the preservation of a diverse collection of historic structures, decorative art objects, and outdoor sculpture.  During her tenure, the institution was awarded the 2017 Ross Merrill Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Preservation and Care of Collections from the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation.  Through the Architectural Conservation Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania, she has managed projects for the National Park Service at Mesa Verde National Park and Independence National Historical Park and has worked in private conservation practices in New York City and Miami.

Lauren is published in the Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, Change Over Time: An International Journal of Conservation and the Built Environment, and the Association for Preservation Technology’s APT Bulletin: The Journal of Preservation Technology, among other peer-reviewed journals and books.  She is a National Heritage Responder, a volunteer corps that deploys to support cultural organizations in the aftermath of disasters, and an instructor for national and regional emergency planning training programs.  Lauren holds a Master of Science in Historic Preservation and a post-graduate Advanced Certificate in Architectural Conservation and Site Management from the University of Pennsylvania.  She is a Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation.

Monica Rhodes (MSHP’12) Monica Rhodes is an international award winning, accomplished cultural preservationist with over 15 years of experience leveraging preservation as a strategic tool for advancing socially and economically inclusive heritage and preservation practices. This year, Rhodes was appointed to the ACHP by President Joseph Biden as an Expert Member of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP). The ACHP is an independent federal agency that promotes the educational, economic, and cultural values of historic preservation and advises the President and Congress on national historic preservation policy. It also influences federal activities, programs and policies that affect historic and cultural properties.

As a 2023 Rome Prize Fellow in Historic Preservation and Conservation at the American Academy in Rome and a 2022 Loeb Fellow at Harvard University, Rhodes is recognized for establishing groundbreaking programs at two of the largest national organizations focused on preservation and national parks. At the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Rhodes developed the first and largest nationwide program centered on diversifying the preservation industry. While at the National Park Foundation, Rhodes led the effort to reestablish legacy programs to fund a more honest and comprehensive story of the country’s history. She currently serves as an advisor to the Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites at the Weitzman School of Design at University of Pennsylvania and is a board member on the International Council on Monuments and Sites. She was also recently elected to sit on the board for the International Council on Monuments and Sites.

Over the course of Rhodes’ career, she has spearheaded the development of hundreds of partnerships, engaged thousands of community members and impacted millions of visitors to national parks through preservation efforts at some of our nation’s most iconic sites. Rhodes continues to push communities and practitioners to leverage the past to think 50 years ahead.

Jenna Solomon (MSHP’15) is the Cultural Resources Manager for Amtrak's ADA Stations Program. The ADASP is responsible for bringing Amtrak's stations in 46 states into compliance with the 2006 U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) Standards for Transportation Facilities. She manages the federally funded program's compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act as well as applications for Certificates of Appropriateness when required by local historic preservation ordinances. She holds a Master of Science in Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Architectural History from the University of Virginia's School of Architecture with minors in Historic Preservation and Architectural Design. 

Students, email Kali Meeks (kmeeks@design.upenn.edu) for more information and 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.