MHP, Historic Preservation

Degree Program Summary:

The MHP degree program prepares students for broad-based careers in the conservation and management of historic resources in both the built and natural environments. The two-year course of study attracts students from diverse backgrounds and is structured to develop versatile, competent and highly motivated professionals who can perceive preservation opportunities in the broadest sense and who can develop strategies ensuring the protection and use of cultural resources as a part of the fabric of urban and rural environments.

The MHP program’s general aims are:

• To prepare students from diverse academic backgrounds such as architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning or design, interior design, art history, social history, law, archaeology, real estate, economics, or other disciplines, to work together efficiently at the task of retrieving and recycling the built and natural environment, and to give these specialists a common concept of their task, a common language for describing it, and common methods for dealing with the problems involved.
• To develop highly motivated professionals who can perceive preservation opportunities in their broadest sense, recognizing the need to develop, protect, and utilize historic resources as a part of the living fabric of the community, area, or region.
• To develop, within students, an awareness of the specific historic resource problems and opportunities which exist within the region in which the University of Georgia is located, as well as in other parts of our nation.
• To develop a center of preservation education capable of serving students from Georgia, the Southeast, and areas beyond this region.

The more specific objectives of the curriculum are to provide for the student:

• An understanding of the nature and role of historic resources.
• A basis for the development of a personal philosophy in historic preservation.
• A working knowledge of the principles and techniques of historic resource protection and utilization within both urban and rural environments, along with the ability to utilize effective preservation planning processes.
• An intensive, community-oriented, practical educational experience which effects a balance between academic and professional training.
• Preparation for the assumption of responsible positions, as a preservation planning professional, with private organizations, design and/or planning firms, as well as agencies of municipal, state, or federal government.
• Recognition of personal potential for leadership within the preservation field.