Dr. Michelle Magalong Named School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation's First Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow
Brings experience with underserved communities to Maryland’s Built Environment School
The Historic Preservation Program of the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Maryland’s Built Environment School, is excited to welcome Dr. Michelle Magalong as its first President’s Postdoctoral Fellow this summer. She brings to this role her extensive professional and research experience in community development, historic preservation and public health in underserved communities. The University of Maryland President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program offers this highly competitive opportunity to scholars whose research, teaching and service will contribute to diversity, inclusion and equal opportunity in higher education and within the university.
Magalong’s career has been dedicated to telling the stories of historically marginalized groups through historic preservation. Her dissertation focused on the process and development of the National Park Service Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Initiative and Theme Study, part of the Park Service’s recent effort to identify, acknowledge and preserve more inclusive and diverse historic sites. Magalong currently serves as the Executive Director of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in Historic Preservation (APIAHiP), a national volunteer-run, nonprofit organization.
“We are very lucky to have Michelle on board as a President’s Postdoctoral Fellow. Her work to improve the visibility of underrepresented groups in historical preservation spaces is incredibly important. We look forward to working with her and learning from her,” says Dr. Don Linebaugh, Dean ad interim.
During Magalong’s two-year appointment at UMD, she will expand upon her dissertation work to explore the importance and impact of the National Park Service Heritage Initiatives that include the American Latino Theme Study, LGBTQ Theme Study and special resources studies on women, the Civil Rights movement and African American Heritage Initiative. Her research—Telling All American Stories: A Movement of Diversity, Inclusion, and Relevancy in Historic Preservation—has the ultimate goals of increasing the number of nominations and listings on the National Register of Historic Places and as National Historic Landmarks and raising the degree of scholarship on these kinds of historic preservation efforts. Currently, less than 10 percent of national landmarks are associated with African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, women and LGBTQ individuals.
“Michelle’s work is vital to the mission of historic preservation,” says Dr. Dennis Pogue, Interim Director of Maryland’s Historic Preservation Program. “We are so happy that she chose to bring her knowledge and expertise to the University of Maryland. I think she's going to really make an impact.”
Magalong joins UMD from the University of California, Riverside, where she previously served as Associate Director of the Center for Social Innovation at the School of Public Policy. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in urban planning from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
“I am incredibly honored to be a part of the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at UMD. With part of the school’s mission in promoting social justice and cultural value in the built environment, I look forward to working with and learning from the faculty and students on how we can advance the fields of historic preservation, urban planning and public policy to be more reflective and relevant to telling all our stories through the power of place,” says Magalong.
In addition to her position at APIAHiP, Magalong has served on advisory boards for the National Park Service, the State of California and the City of Los Angeles on their respective theme studies and context statements on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. She also currently serves California Humanities Board of Directors. She was also recognized in 2018 as one of the “40 Under 40: People Saving Places” by National Trust for Historic Preservation.
-By Dan Novak