A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff
Associate Professor of Historic Preservation Cristina Turdean
Associate Professor of Historic Preservation Cristina Turdean has been appointed to the Board of Regents of the James Monroe Law Office Museum and Memorial Library by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Read more.
Associate Professor of Historic Preservation Cristina Turdean
UMW Associate Professor of Historic Preservation and Ralph Bunche Advisory Committee Member Cristina Turdean spoke at a recent meeting aimed at turning the former Ralph Bunche High School – which opened in 1949 for Black students after King George parents sued for an equal facility for their children – into a museum. She provided a detailed presentation on what’s involved in setting up a museum and advised that the project may take several years. “If you don’t have a collection, you don’t have a museum,” Turdean was quoted as saying in The Free Lance-Star. She added that the group must decide specifically what’s needed and draw up legal documents before asking the community for donations. Read more.
UMW Chief of Staff and Professor of History and American Studies Jeffrey W. McClurken and Professor of Historic Preservation Cristina Turdean of Fredericksburg have been appointed by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin to serve on the James Monroe Law Office – Museum and Memorial Library – Board of Regents. “Today I am announcing a new group of appointees to serve the citizens of Virginia by working in my administration and on boards throughout state government,” Gov. Youngkin said in the release. “I look forward to the great work these dedicated individuals will do for the commonwealth.”
UMW Museums Executive Director Scott Harris said the board “provides advice to the [UMW] Board of Visitors on the operation of the museum, on policy issues related to the museum, and on the best ways in which the museum can promote and publicize the life and accomplishments of President James Monroe.”
Senior students in Assistant Professor of Historic Preservation Cristina Turdean’s Museum Design and Interpretation class hosted an exhibition, “The Road to Desegregation in King George County, Virginia,” at UMW’s Dahlgren Campus.
The exhibition provided the historical context of African American education in King George. Students recorded oral histories, interviewing Ralph Bunche alumni and others who had involvement in the historic school.
A full news article about the exhibit can be found here.
“In response to the gripping question of how to renew the postindustrial city, the authors of the essays in the book propose a fascinating viewpoint,” said Cristina Turdean, jury chair and assistant professor of historic preservation. “The book does a superb job in making the reader think in a holistic and practical way of the forces and factors that could and should play a role in the transformation of dormant industrial infrastructure and communities into vibrant urban centers.”
The center awards the Historic Preservation Book Prize annually to a book that a jury deems has made the most significant contribution to the intellectual vitality of historic preservation in America.
Kapp is an associate professor of historic preservation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a licensed architect in Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina. He served as the historical architect and campus historic preservation manager at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for more than five years.
Armstrong is an associate professor of design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he has taught for more than two decades. He has presented lectures across the country and is co-author of “The Skyscraper and the City: Design, Technology, and Innovation.”
This year, the jury for the $500 prize also included Julia King, associate professor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland; Kaitlin O’Shea, historic preservation specialist at the Vermont Agency of Transportation; Sarah Sanders ’13; Gary Stanton, associate professor of historic preservation at UMW; and Jason Vaughan, director of historic preservation and interpretation at the Baltimore National Heritage Area.
Entries may come from any of the disciplines that relate to the theory or practice of historic preservation. To be eligible for the 2014 prize, a book must be published first in the United States between Jan. 1, 2013 and Dec. 31, 2013.
Established in 1980, the Center for Historic Preservation is a research and public outreach organization affiliated with the UMW Department of Historic Preservation. The center sponsors lectures, seminars, workshops and conferences for students and faculty in the historic preservation department, and it offers programs for the public.
For more information, contact Andrea Livi-Smith, assistant professor of historic preservation, at alsmith@umw.edu or (540) 654-1316.