HISTORIC PRESERVATION PROGRAM

EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY

 

 

Specific Objectives of the Graduate Program are:

 

            l. To provide program students from diverse undergraduate backgrounds with a basic knowledge of the field of historic preservation sufficient to prepare them for entry-level professional careers in historic preservation.

 

            2. To provide program students with supplementary planning, technical, interpretive and administrative skills useful to careers in historic preservation, historic administration and other facets of heritage resource management.

 

            3. To provide program students with a sound foundation in American architectural history as well as the ability to implement and carry out cultural resource surveys.

 

            4. To provide program students with a basic knowledge of geographic concepts, perspectives and methodologies associated with cultural landscape interpretation and regional analysis. High-style and folk landscapes, both urban and rural, as well as settlement patterns are studied as visual manifestations of American cultural history. Cultural geographers have traditionally viewed the built environment in the context of cultural-historic landscapes. Concepts of landscape analysis developed in cultural geography have been incorporated by the Department of Interior into a "cultural resource management" strategy. Because our students have been grounded in the cultural geography concepts underlying cultural resource management, SHPO offices have found them to be attractive job candidates.

 

            5. To combine classroom theoretical development with practical community and/or agency field experience.

 

            6. To build productive relationships between historic preservation and cultural tourism, and to foster cultural stewardship through strategies of "appropriate tourism".

 

            7. To improve the effectiveness of the preservation movement in Michigan and the nation by preparing qualified professionals for entry into career positions in historic preservation planning, interpretation, technology and administration, and to foster the effectiveness of this movement by increasing community awareness of the aims and techniques of historic preservation.

 

The non-degree certification in Historic Preservation is designed to meet the needs of individuals, such as in-service planners, historic district commissioners, or those in career transition, who wish to improve their knowledge and competence in the field of historic preservation without pursuing a full master's degree. The primary purposes of the undergraduate minor are to introduce students to the field of historic preservation, to provide some competence in the subject matter, and to provide preparatory instruction to undergraduates intending to enter the master's program. Stress is given to American history and to the settlement forms and structures which characterize American culture regions and landscapes.