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Newsletter | Vol. CI No. 3 September 2015 Worth Saving For Two Decades, Goucher’s Master of Arts in Historic Preservation Program Has Kept Up With History By Chris Landers and Kristina Gaddy ichard Wagner grew up surrounded by the past—in R southern Virginia, where people referred to the “War of Northern Aggression,” and at the University of Virginia, where he occupied one of the prestigious “lawn rooms” designed by Thomas Jefferson to house carefully selected undergraduates. But history and Wagner’s future came together at the University of Edinburgh, where he received his doctorate degree. “Living in Edinburgh,” he recalls, “my building was a ‘new’ building—it was only 250 years old—and my ofce was in a ‘newish’ building that was only 300 years old. I had an inkling I wanted to work with old buildings and economics, but it sort Photo courtesy of the Suquamish Tribe Leonard Forsman MAHP ’03, chairman of the Suquamish Tribal Council, keeps his tribe’s heritage alive. of solidied while I was there. You know, going to sit in a pub that [18th-century He also assembled faculty members is Anglo-American,” he says. “There have cabinetmaker and burglar] Deacon Brody who wanted to give back to their profession been various pushes to include African- actually sat in, or David Hume, or Adam by educating the next generation of American material, pushes to include Smith . That’s really what sort of shaped it.” preservationists. “My deal with the faculty Hispanic-American material, but what As founder and director of Goucher’s has been ‘I’ll bring you good students if we’ve found is that the judging is still Historic Preservation Program, Wagner you’ll be my faculty,’” Wagner says, “and by the Anglo standards. … The world is has helped usher a diverse group of we’ve pretty much been able to maintain changing, and we need to gure out how to professionals into the eld over the last that for 20 years now.” adapt. We cannot continue to be museum- 20 years. In those two decades, he and the minded, which is where all this started In rst developing the program, Wagner program’s other professors have had to from . We’re in economic development. says he looked at historic distance-learning adapt to signicant changes in the eld. We’re in cultural integration .” models—the Chautauqua Institute in the Wagner says historic preservation has Graduates of Goucher’s program are 1880s, the radio universities of the ’20s, become more diverse, both in scope— also embracing these changes, working to the television universities of the ’50s—to moving from buildings to landscapes—and preserve historic structures and sites all gure out which students would do well in in inclusiveness.“If you look in the stuff a low-residency program. in the National Register, the vast majority Continued on page 2 Goucher Quarterly Newsletter • September 2015 • 8 Goucher Quarterly Newsletter • September 2015 • 1 DEAR GOUCHER Worth Saving from page 1 over the world. COLLEGE ALUMNAE/I: In this piece, we prole some students By the time you get this newsletter, and graduates of the program who have we will have welcomed the most diverse become some of the nation’s leading incoming class of rst-year students in Goucher’s history. Our new students historic preservation practitioners. come from 36 states and 15 countries, and 34 percent of them identify as being Ken Breslauer MAHP ’99 multicultural. Not only will these students Track Historian, Sebring International Raceway enrich the cultural diversity of our campus Sometimes history moves fast, community, but their enrollment shows accelerating out of turn 16 and down Goucher is continuing its longstanding the big back straight toward the sunset tradition of inclusiveness. bend at Sebring International Raceway Moving ahead, however, Goucher’s continued success will require expanding in Florida. Sebring is home of the famous our efforts to draw in new prospective 12-hour endurance race, 3.74 miles of students. As you may know, the concrete and asphalt where the likes of demographics of the high school graduate Mario Andretti and Steve McQueen once population are changing rapidly. There will jockeyed for position . be more students from low-income families, For the past 30 years, Ken Breslauer, Ken Breslauer MAHP ’99 is a racetrack historian and more multicultural students, more rst- Florida history expert. as the Sebring track historian, has been generation college students, and more non- state’s past for the History Channel slowing things down long enough to native English speakers in the applicant pool and other outlets that have come calling. document them. than ever before. We are proud Goucher has Like the attractions themselves, he “What appealed to me about Sebring adopted an admissions strategy that will help doesn’t see the interest lasting forever, us attract an increasingly diverse group of was its tremendous history,” Breslauer says. but he’ll document what he can while he students who are well-prepared for success “It was a World War II B-17 base, and then, has the chance. on our campus and in their future careers. of course, the raceway, which has a lot of Goucher is also committed to increasing “I think it’s a generational thing,” history in the world of automobiles. So it faculty and staff diversity, and this Breslauer says. “Interstate highways kind of combined my two interests—sports fall we also have welcomed more new played a big role in the way people car racing and history.” Asian, Hispanic, African American, and travel, but it’s the reality, too, that kids A native Floridian, Breslauer is also international faculty than in any year in now are not going to be entertained by Goucher’s history. fascinated by the history of tourism in his parrot shows and porpoise shows; it’s Additionally, on September 25 and 26, home state. just a different world we live in. Our we are inviting educators and admissions “Every state has really cool roadside perception of what an attraction should be experts from all over the country to things,” he says, “but Florida, being a participate in “Admission: The Road to is changing.” destination for tourists, has always been Higher Education for All,” an important Still, he adds, “If you take the off-the- noted for a lot of attractions. Before conference that will explore how colleges interstate routes, you’ll see a lot of really Disney, if you were coming to Florida, can increase access and equity for all neat things.” students (see page 4). you went to Silver Springs, or Cypress —Chris Landers We have made great progress in our Gardens, and of course Weeki Wachee diversity efforts, which honor and sustain [Springs], Marineland, and so forth .” Goucher’s reputation for innovation, The state has purchased some of the Leonard Forsman MAHP ’03 transformation, and educational access. larger attractions, so future generations Chairman, Suquamish Tribal Council And we are proud of how the Goucher community is taking great strides to create a can still take in the famous mermaid In just one month this year, Leonard sustainable and ethical model for liberal arts shows at Weeki Wachee Springs, or Forsman met with politicians, gave colleges of the future. explore the Silver Springs by glass-bottom commencement speeches, spoke at a boat. groundbreaking in Seattle with the mayor, All the best, But times and travel have changed— and attended the Advisory Council on once Disney came to Florida, it killed a lot Historic Preservation as President Barack José Antonio Bowen Holly Selby of the smaller mom-and-pop attractions. Obama’s Native American appointee. President Executive Director of Alumnae/i “It’s kind of a sad commentary,” he says, It all comes back to preservation. As Engagement “because most of the older attractions chairman of the Suquamish Tribal Council were botanical attractions or natural on the Port Madison Indian Reservation PS . Remember to look for a copy of the springs, things like that. Disney could be in Washington State, Forsman is a leader completely redesigned Quarterly magazine anywhere.” in preserving the built landscape to protect in your mailbox in early December. You are Breslauer has built a reputation as the his tribe’s culture and autonomy. going to love it! go-to guy for Florida history, curating his Goucher Quarterly Newsletter • September 2015 • 2 Forsman’s ancestors have lived on Puget Sound near Seattle for thousands of years, and he came to Goucher’s Master of Art in Historic Preservation Program with more than 20 years of experience working on Native American history. He had been at the Suquamish Museum doing archival work, exhibit design, and educational programming, and he was an archaeologist and cultural resource management specialist in the Seattle area. He wasn’t committed to doing research about his own community when he came to Goucher. He had wanted to try something different and avoid being pigeonholed. His thesis adviser didn’t agree. There is so little research about historic preservation in relation to Native Americans, Forsman remembers being told, “We can’t waste your experience!” As Forsman was earning his master’s degree, the Suquamish were experiencing Jackson Gilman-Forlini ’12 MAHP ’18 watches over Baltimore’s historic buildings. a cultural resurgence and community revitalization. In 2004, the federal freefall of molten lead. Although it outlived day and operate the museum. It’s far more government returned the Old Man House its usefulness before the turn of the last than the city could ever do on its own .” State Park to the tribe, and in 2005, a century, the tower remains a symbol of In addition to guring out how to new long-house traditional dwelling was the past, a landmark for travelers, and, preserve the structures, part of Gilman- rebuilt.

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