Introduction to Historic Preservation is a five-week intensive summer program offering university credit to familiarize students with the skills, knowledge, and professional opportunities related to the field. In addition, the 2023 Historic Preservation Focus will be held in person. This pre-professional program is for those interested in preservation, considering it as a career, or may wish to get a head start for application to graduate school.

This program combines lectures, small discussion groups, field trips, and collaboration and integrates humanist, scientific, and technological approaches necessary for students to shape the profession’s future. Students are introduced to several interconnected historic preservation topics, including the reuse of buildings, the design of adaptation technologies, planning and policy innovations, social and historical research, materials science, and digital computation applied to the 3D scanning, documentation, assessment, monitoring, and care of built heritage through readings, discussions, and site visits. The program frames preservation as an experimental form of creative expression and a necessary form of collective action guided by philosophical, ethical, and critical thinking, supported by evidence of its benefits to society and enabled by emerging technologies and policy tools. We teach preservation as a social, material, and environmental process, as a way of thinking and acting through buildings and places of cultural significance to improve the built environment and people’s quality of life.

Students attend classes four afternoons a week for five weeks, attending a combination of lectures, small group discussions, site visits, team projects, and workshops. While lessons cover a spectrum of requisite knowledge for planning, students also work in small groups directly under the guidance of one instructor on projects and focused discussions. Students also are connected with professionals in a variety of roles related to preservation, learn about their career paths, and promote inclusive and resilient communities.

Students must apply online. An official transcript of the applicant’s most recent work and a resumé are required. Applicants should indicate on their application their preference for the Real Estate Development focus within Introduction to Architecture. When the application is complete, the Office of Admissions will notify the applicant of the admission decision.

In addition to Intro to Historic Preservation, the Summer 2025 program options also include Intro to Architecture, Intro to Real Estate, and Intro to Urban Planing.