Association for Preservation Technology, Northeast Chapter

In 2018, I was selected as a student scholar for the Association for Preservation Technology’s Northeast Chapter symposium, “Preservation in a Campus Environment: Challenges and Opportunities.”

My presentation compares how Philadelphia-area universities expanded in their respective urban environments. Focusing on La Salle University in East Germantown, I critique the institution’s recent planning decisions and contrast their anti-preservation approach with preservation-oriented projects at peer institutions like Penn and Drexel (though no university in Philadelphia is a perfect case study for preservation-minded campus expansion…). I conclude that La Salle’s approach represents a missed opportunity, as historic campus buildings can serve as educational tools and strengthen connections to alumni, neighborhoods, and the city’s history.