Program Enhancement Fund

Preservation Alumni makes periodic grants to students either currently enrolled in or a recent graduate (within five years) of Columbia University’s Historic Preservation program. These grants may be used to fund travel, registration fees, accommodations, or other expenses related to attending or participating in a professional preservation-related conference or event. Typical grant amounts range from $250-$500. Up to two grants will be awarded in a single application period to students and/or recent graduates.

For 2024, please send all submissions in PDF format, as well as any questions, to info@preservationalumni.org by May 1, 2024. Submissions must include the following:

1. Contact Information: Name and email. Please also indicate your year of graduation.
2. Proposal: Conference information and anticipated participation (attendee, speaker, etc). Preference will be given to those applicants who clearly demonstrate the benefit of conference attendance to their work and/or studies, so please be sure to describe the relevance of the conference to current projects, thesis research, interests, etc.
3. Budget: Please indicate the amount requested.

Students have been able to attend the following events with the help of PA:

• 2023
  • The Association of Preservation Technology International Annual Conference in Seattle, Washington
  • The National Preservation Law Conference in Washington, DC
• 2022
  • The Association of Preservation Technology International Annual Conference in Detroit, Michigan
  • Society for Architectural Historians Annual International Conference in Montreal, Quebec
• 2021
  • Keeping History Above Water in Charleston, South Carolina
    • Received by Ziming Wang (’22), who explains: “The 3-day program of this year’s KHAW conference featured both presentations and walking tours. Its highlight sessions from my perspective included panel discussions on design guidelines for flood adaptation hosted by National Park Service researchers and Charleston’s Board of Architectural Review, and tours of elevated buildings in downtown Charleston where we met with architects on the sites of various built projects.” Ziming used this experience to contribute to his thesis research the following year.
• 2019
  • The Association of Preservation Technology International Annual Conference in Miami, Florida
  • Real Places: Preserving Historic Texas Conference in Austin, Texas
• 2017
  • Design + Heritage Symposium in Philadelphia, PA
  • European Climate Change Adaptation Conference in Glasgow, Scotland