Erica Avrami

Erica Avrami, PhD, is the James Marston Fitch Assistant Professor of Historic Preservation at Columbia GSAPP, having joined the full-time faculty in 2014. Formerly the Director of Research and Education for World Monuments Fund and a Project Specialist at the Getty Conservation Institute, Erica Avrami has worked on a global stage, looking at heritage issues from different perspectives, in broadly ranging social, economic, and environmental conditions. By bringing international perspectives to her courses and developing studios beyond New York, Avrami challenges students to enhance their critical thinking skills and position their understanding of preservation theory and practice in a global context.

Erica Avrami’s research and teaching focus on the intersection of heritage and sustainability, cultural heritage planning and management, values-based and participatory approaches to conservation, and the outcomes of historic preservation policy. Stressing the importance of maintaining a dynamic exchange between practice and scholarship, Avrami sees important horizons to explore in the field as climate change compels fundamental shifts in the way we design, construct, and management the built environment, and in how communities play a role in decision-making about their shared past and future.

Erica Avrami earned her B.A. in Architecture and M.S. in Historic Preservation, both at Columbia. She completed her Ph.D. in planning and public policy from Rutgers University, where her doctoral research focused on the intersection of historic preservation and sustainability planning. She has also taught in in the preservation programs at the University of Pennsylvania and Pratt Institute. Avrami was a Trustee and Secretary of the US Committee of the International Council of Monuments and Sites (US/ICOMOS) from 2003 to 2010, and she currently serves on the editorial advisory board of the journal Change Over Time.