On May 13, two DCP faculty members were recognized at the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation’s 38th Annual Statewide Preservation Conference in Tallahassee for their efforts and accomplishments in the field of historic preservation:
Janet Snyder Matthews, historic preservation associate scholar, was honored as the recipient of the Senator Bob Williams Award announced by the Secretary of State Ken Detzner.
“I am pleased to announce that Dr. Janet Snyder Matthews is the recipient of the 2016 Senator Bob Williams Award in recognition of her extraordinary legacy of public service in Florida and at the national level. Dr. Matthews experience includes serving as Florida’s State Historic Preservation Officer and in Washington, D.C. at the National Park Service as Associate Director of Cultural Resources and Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places,” Secretary Detzner said in a statement released by the Florida Department of State.
Matthews is a historian, author and nationally recognized leader in Historic Preservation. Beginning as a researcher and author of award-winning regional histories, she chaired the Historical Commission of Sarasota County, shaping its first historic preservation ordinance and the creation of a department of historical resources. Tapped by Governor Bob Graham, she directed his Oral History Program (1980-1986), was appointed to the Historic Tallahassee Preservation Board by three successive governors (1980-1990), and served on the Florida Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the Florida National Register Review Board between 1994 and 1998. In 1999, she became the Chief of the Bureau of Historic Resources and then Director of the Division of Historical Resources and State Historic Preservation Officer (1999-2003). In January 2004, she moved to Washington D.C. to serve the National Park Service as Associate Director of Cultural Resources and Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places. After five years in the nation’s capital, she was recruited by the University Florida to share her collective knowledge and experience with the next generation of preservation leaders as the Associate Scholar of the Historic Preservation Program and Director of Academics and Research for the University of Florida, Historic St. Augustine, Inc. Dr. Matthews’ unique talents and commitment have, and continue, to shape the course of historic preservation in Florida
Linda D. Stevenson, historic preservation adjunct professor, received the Roy E. Graham Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation Education.
A registered architect and LEED AP, Stevenson received her Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 2011. The following year, the University hired Linda to serve as an Adjunct Professor in Historic Preservation. This was the first year of the implementation of a new strategic plan that involved revisions to the curriculum and certain core courses. Linda was instrumental in reaching these goals, including Introduction of History and Theory of Historic Preservation – Linda helped recreate the introductory course balancing the course content to examine historic preservation from both an international and national, and statewide perspective. For four years, Linda has also taught and strengthened the Preservation Building and Technology class. Each year the Preservation Practicum course surveys and documents a Florida neighborhood and assesses its potential of a local and state and national landmark district. Since 2012, Linda has served as CoDirector of the Preservation Institute Nantucket. Linda has also been a mentor to graduate students as part of their thesis research and continues to advise, as many have gone on to work in design with a historic preservation focus (architecture and landscape architecture), cultural resource management, and local government. Many of Linda’s students have remained in Florida, focusing on the preservation of the varied and many resources of the Sunshine State.