Ph.D. in Historic Preservation

The PHD in Historic Preservation was launched in 2017 and is oriented toward the training of future historic preservation scholars. The first of its kind in the United States, the program aims to expand the discipline’s range of intellectual entanglements and cultivate new paradigms for scholarly research, experimental practice, global action, and communication.

As a doctoral program, it underscores a historical understanding of the discipline’s evolving challenges and purposes; promotes theoretical speculation on alternative modes of practice suited to deal with the ethical, technical, aesthetic, and social problems of the twenty-first century; and fosters a critical and scholarly culture conducive to preparing the discipline’s next leaders. Candidates are expected to conduct independent research with support from the preservation faculty’s wide range of expertise, the Historic Preservation Laboratory, the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, and the rest of the scholarly community at GSAPP and Columbia University, more broadly.

The total time to complete the PhD is expected to be five years. The curriculum requires two years of coursework, one year to prepare and take general exams, and two years for independent research and writing. The Ph.D. in Historic Preservation is a program within the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) while the actual degree is granted by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS).