140 Strong Hall
Eastern Michigan University
Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197
734.487.0218
Ted Ligibel, director emeritus of Eastern Michigan University's award-winning Historic Preservation program, began his career in historic preservation in 1974 with the Landmarks Committee of the Maumee Valley Historical Society. In 1976, he became regional preservation officer for the Northwest Ohio Historic Preservation Office under the Historic Preservation Office of the Ohio Historical Society and the Department of the Interior, affiliating this program with Bowling Green State University in 1978. He was asked to direct the historical collection/ development program of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library in 1982. In 1985, he accepted a position as research associate within the University of Toledo's Urban Affairs Center. He established the University's first courses in historic preservation as an instructor in the Geography Planning and History Departments. In 1991, he joined the faculty of Eastern Michigan University as professor in the Historic Preservation program, and became its director in 1999. Now the largest graduate Historic Preservation program in the nation, it offers coursework at both EMU's main campus in Ypsilanti and in Northern Michigan at Northwest Michigan College.
Ted Ligibel is a frequent lecturer throughout the nation, and has been active in a variety of local, state, and national preservation and conservation organizations. He has written works on historic preservation, local history and historic architecture, including:
He is chair emeritus of the National Council for Preservation Education, and is an advisor emeritus to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, having served nine years as Ohio advisor including two years on the Advisor's National Administrative Committee. In 1992, Dr. Ligibel was invited to participate in two 'Roundtable Discussions' on neighborhood revitalization and historic preservation for the Clinton Administration and in 2008 was asked to advise then U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne, on the significance of the River Raisin Battlefield in Monroe, Michigan. He is a past board member of the Sauder Historic Village in Ohio and the Detroit Club Foundation, and is a board member emeritus of the Michigan Historic Preservation Network. In 2010, he was appointed to the Governor's Michigan Historic Preservation Review Board.
Ted Ligibel holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Toledo and MA and Ph.D. degrees in American Studies from Bowling Green State University. He is a member of the national honorary societies of Phi Kappa Phi and Sigma Pi Kappa, and has been listed in Who's Who in American Education. In 2010, he was awarded the Teaching Excellence Award sponsored annually by Eastern Michigan University's Alumni Association.