Jenny Wolfe, MSAS 2006
Historic Preservation Officer, City of St. Augustine
Can you tell us about your career?
My career progressed from volunteering, internships and employment opportunities with increasing levels of responsibility and engagement with historic preservation planning over the last 10 years. I moved from Gainesville to St. Augustine for a position as the historic preservation and special projects planner and since that time, I advanced to historic preservation officer and historic preservation division manager. I am also a trustee on the board of the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation, which allows me to be involved in preservation issues across the state and contribute to preservation educational workshops and conferences. During my daily responsibilities with the City of St. Augustine, I implement design guidelines for the historic districts and overlay areas, which requires reviewing architectural plans and studying traditional building design. I also submit applications for historic preservation grants for city projects and implement the project when it is successfully funded. In the past this has included rehabilitation of an 1898 waterworks pumping station, a historic marker program and historic structure surveys. One of my major projects this year is a historic preservation planning document that will set forth the city’s goals and preservation strategies for the next 5 to 10 years. The Historic Preservation division of the city includes my position, a supporting preservation planner position, as well as the archaeology staff and lab.
What was your favorite class at DCP and why?
I had an interesting college experience at DCP because I first attended the college as an architecture student at the undergraduate level and found the design studio classes to be an exciting challenge of creativity, so unlike typical college coursework. I ultimately decided I did not want to be an architect and finished an undergraduate degree in liberal arts. As a graduate student I discovered the DCP program in historic preservation and that was where I experienced my favorite classes. Of that program, my favorite was the opportunity to attend the Preservation Institute: Nantucket, which offered classes studying in a living laboratory of historic preservation on a national historic landmark island. The course work included hands-on documentation with large format photography and traditional measured drawings, lectures from nationally respected preservation professionals and the opportunity to observe social issues of preservation from the local government and non-profit perspective.
Who was your favorite professor at DCP and why?
The professors were all very different from their personalities, teaching styles and areas of expertise, which I highly respect. The standout from my experience was Peter Prugh. During my coursework in historic preservation my individual class of students was small and allowed us to have seminar courses on narrower topics which Prugh graciously offered. He was always available for encouragement and truly wanted to provide the best learning experience for his students and went out of his way to do so on many occasions.