Master of Arts in Historic Preservation (MAHP) at Goucher College

It was a joy this weekend to celebrate our graduates of the MA in Historic Preservation at Goucher College. Rebecca Sewall, Darius Johnson, and Nate Heasley donned the cap and gown to participate in commencement in person, while Bennett King, Cait Parish, and Flynn Larson celebrated from afar. We are so proud of you all!

Webinar – Saving the Mom-and-Pops: a Legacy Businesses Toolkit

Tuesday, May 5, 12 PM ET

Legacy businesses—the corner stores, family restaurants, and neighborhood shops that define our communities—are disappearing. Yet few preservation tools exist to protect these vital expressions of living cultural heritage, especially in BIPOC, ethnic, and immigrant neighborhoods.

In this webinar, Bennett King, MAHP ’25, introduces a comprehensive Legacy Business Program Toolkit that bridges this gap. Drawing on best practices from municipal and community-based programs nationwide, you'll discover practical strategies for identifying, supporting, and preserving culturally significant businesses in your community. Whether you're a preservation professional, community advocate, or local government official, you'll gain actionable insights into protecting both the tangible and intangible heritage that makes our neighborhoods unique.

To register: https://gradprograms.goucher.edu/register/?id=7c24f018-904a-4ab1-a956-f1237ab7e4a1

Join us on April 14th for an overview of the MA in Historic Preservation program at Goucher College Graduate Studies and learn more about the program’s curriculum, professional practitioner faculty, the application process, and career opportunities. Register today to secure your spot: https://gradprograms.goucher.edu/register/?id=ca117c55-4b92-49e9-bfb9-1064ffdf96c4

Travel to Bhutan with Goucher!
🌿Open to Goucher College undergraduates, MAHP/MACS/MAES graduate students, and grad program alumnae/i!
🌿Join us for an information session and learn more Bhutan and how you can study abroad there.
🌿Email [email protected] with questions

Information Session about the MA in Historic Preservation

Tuesday, November 11, 12 PM ET

Designed for those who want to learn while also working full-time or part-time, the Goucher MA in Historic Preservation prepares you for a career in historic preservation and heritage conservation through rigorous scholarship, application of critical thinking to practice, and advocacy and community engagement in the service of social justice and sustainability. Join us for an overview of the MA in Historic Preservation program at Goucher College and learn more about the program’s curriculum, professional practitioner faculty, the application process, and career opportunities.

Register today to secure your spot.

To register: https://gradprograms.goucher.edu/register/?id=94b05e6c-bfd0-44aa-8193-4c0c751f9fbb

Join the Journey from Truth to Reconciliation conference in person or online! This event is organized by the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project and will feature Goucher College MAHP scholar, Darius Johnson, and Goucher Master of Arts in Cultural Sustainability at Goucher College alumna Asiyah Kurtz. Register here: https://mdlynchingmemorial.networkforgood.com/events/89309-8th-annual-lynching-in-maryland-annual-conference?hid=NTM1NzQ5MDU=&utm_campaign=dms_email_blast_4169740

Goucher College Graduate Studies

Webinar – Black Cemetery Citizenship: Memory, Place, and the Stakes of Care

Tuesday, October 14, 12 PM ET

What does it mean to practice Black cemetery citizenship in places burdened by erasure yet sustained through community care? In this session, Cory France, Goucher College MACS and MAHP ’25, presents their capstone project, Scenes at the Stakes, which explores descendant-led efforts to preserve Palmetto Cemetery, a historic African American burial ground in Columbia, South Carolina. Bridging immersive fieldwork, historical research, and oral accounts, the project examines how Black communities hold ground, confront loss, and reclaim memory beyond conventional preservation frameworks.

To register: https://gradprograms.goucher.edu/register/?id=4a4e2c4a-bb79-439d-8178-c2f510cafe17

Webinar – Places of Pride: Recognizing Gayborhoods as Traditional Cultural Places

Wednesday, September 10, 6 PM ET

Matthew Bonin, MAHP ‘25, will speak about how we can better preserve the living cultural heritage of historic LGBTQ+ communities by recognizing them for what they are: Traditional Cultural Places (TCPs). He will share his research into how we can use the concepts of secular ritual and civil religion and America’s ethnic and minority enclaves to make the case.

To register: https://gradprograms.goucher.edu/register/?id=037236c1-328c-491b-a4be-e55524460c0b

It is with sadness that we pass on the news of Hugh Miller’s death on May 12, 2025. Hugh Miller joined the Goucher MAHP faculty in 1996 and taught preservation technology and led our thesis program for more than two decades. For those of you who had the honor of learning from him, you know that he was a legend in American historic preservation practice. For those of you who did not have the opportunity, you nonetheless benefited from the legacy he left behind at Goucher. His son Kevin H. Miller shared the obituary and photo below.

HUGH CLARK MILLER, FAIA, FAPT, 95, passed away peacefully May 12, 2025 at Bon Secours/St. Mary’s Hospital in Richmond, VA after a brief illness.

Born in Lancaster, PA and educated at the Mercersburg Academy and the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Fine Arts, MILLER was an architect and educator, an internationally-recognized innovator and leader in historic preservation--especially technical preservation of buildings and structures--landscape preservation, and cultural tourism.

MILLER worked for the US National Park Service for much of his career. His years there were book-ended by restoration of American icons: from Independence Hall in the early 1960s to the Statue of Liberty in the late 1980s. He developed training programs for cultural resource management, preservation maintenance and related technical courses for historical architects. He initiated studies that led to an NPS manual on the preservation of cultural landscapes, organized field schools in cultural landscape management, and coordinated NPS national programs in landscape preservation. Following federal retirement, he was appointed State Historic Preservation Officer for the Commonwealth of Virginia by Governors Gerald Baliles and Douglas Wilder.

He served internationally as an advisor on cultural tourism, development of park systems, and preservation of cultural property in Jordan and Turkey, and made special studies in Lebanon, Greece, Iran, India, Singapore, Macau, Mexico, and England. He was active in the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), serving on its Cultural Tourism Committee, on the US/ICOMOS Board of Directors, and as a Fellow.

MILLER was a life-long educator. He and NPS colleagues pioneered a maintenance-focused approach to preservation taught to craftsmen and other practitioners throughout NPS. He taught seminars and workshops on building and landscape preservation at universities and to national audiences. He was Adjunct Professor of Preservation Technology at Goucher College for over twenty years in their Master of Arts in Historic Preservation program.

He was active in numerous professional organizations. He served the American Institute of Architects (AIA) on its Committee on Historic Resources and as a Fellow. He was a past director and Fellow of the Association for Preservation Technology (APT), and founder and past president of the APT Foundation. He was a founding member of the Executive Committee of the Alliance for the Preservation of Historic Landscapes and served on its Board. He was an Honorary Member of the American Society of Landscape Architects. In addition to fellowships, professional recognition for lifetime achievement included the Marcellus E. Wright, Jr. Award, James River Chapter AIA (2001), and the William C. Noland Medal, AIA Virginia (2003).

MILLER was preceded in death by his wife of over 60 years, STELLA HAWKINS MILLER. He is survived by his brother, Don, three children, four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Memorial contributions in lieu of flowers may be made to the Rotary Club of Richmond https://www.rvarotary.com/, the Association for Preservation Technology International Student Fund https://apt.memberclicks.net/donationen #!/, the Alliance for Historic Landscape Preservation Hugh C. Miller Student Fund https://ahlp.org/donate, or the charity of your choice.

Remembrances can be shared at the Cremation Society of Virginia.

CALL FOR 2025 MAHP DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS/A AWARD (Due: June 5, 2025)

Since 2014, the Goucher College MAHP program has honored an alumnus/a at the annual summer Assembly through conferral of the MAHP Distinguished Alumnus/a Award. The award recognizes alumnae/i who have made significant contributions to historic preservation practice and policy, and whose accomplishments, affiliations, and careers have honored the legacy of excellence at the program.

To submit a nomination for the award, email the following to [email protected] by June 5, 2025:

Letter of nomination written by the nominator

We will then work with the nominator to attain:

Two letters of support from others
Current biography or curriculum vitae for the individual

And, optional:
Newspaper and magazine articles
Personal stories
Awards or certificates of achievement
Other items of interest

Nominees must be Goucher College MAHP alumnae/i. Any interested persons may nominate alumnae/i for the award; they do not need to be directly associated with Goucher College. The recipient must be available to present at the Assembly (in person in Washington, DC, on July 24 this year). Eligible nominations are reviewed by the MAHP academic director and an award committee. Award selections will be made in mid-June. An individual who was nominated in the past but who was not selected may be nominated again in subsequent years.

Past recipients:
2024 – Laura Kirn, ‘13 (pictured)
2023 – Lawana Holland-Moore, ‘16
2022 - Tod Bryant, ‘08
2021 - Marion Meginnis '18
2020 - Shanon Shea Miller '05
2019 - Wm. Jason Flatt '14
2018 - Aimee Jorjani '12
2017 - Kim O'Connell '06
2016 - Cynthia Liccese-Torres '03
2015 - Brian Lione '04
2014 - Leonard Forsman '04