Upon acceptance into the program, students will meet with their advisors to formalize their curricula. They will choose approved courses relevant to their area of concentration and projected course of study. Areas of concentration include: historic preservation planning (including structures, landscape, and preservation of social and cultural context), preservation technologies, conservation research and technical studies, and heritage management.
Each student's curriculum must include a balance of courses that provide an introduction to the wide range of theoretical and methodological issues as well as courses supporting individual preservation research endeavors. Theoretical and methodological breadth ensures that all preservation studies students are familiar with basic procedures of research design and data handling and analysis needed to conduct dissertation research.
Eighteen credits of coursework are required in the first year. A non-credit seminar for presentation of research in progress is required for three semesters (PRES 801); faculty, undergraduates, and graduate students in related departments are encouraged to attend. Three three-credit courses should be taken in each of two contiguous semesters in order to satisfy the University residency requirement. Once advanced to candidacy, students must register for at least 9 credits of Ph.D. dissertation credit (969) (total of 27 course credits).
Normally only graduate level courses (600-699, 800-898, or 900-998) are applicable towards the course requirements. Selection of appropriate electives will be done in consultation with the chair of the dissertation committee. Proficiency in one or more foreign languages may be required for certain areas of concentration and/or dissertation topics and will be determined by the chair of the dissertation committee. Likewise, proficiency in certain practical laboratory techniques may be necessary for certain concentrations as noted in Appendix of curricula by concentration.
Students may develop a need to alter previously approved programs of study once they have entered the program due to reasons that can include scheduling conflicts and/or the creation of new courses directly related to the student's goals. Students who wish to make changes to their program of study should first obtain permission from their advisor. The advisor must then make a written request to the PSP Director.
The PSP curricula builds on existing coursework and research capabilities both on and off campus. (See below for selected sample curricula). As is already the case, for example when students in the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation take coursework in Art, Art History, English, or History on the main campus, the presence of these PSP students in classes of cross-disciplinary focus will enrich the experience for other students.
PSP Sample Curricula
Sample Program of Study for Concentration in Preservation Technologies
Dissertation topic: Preservation of Outdoor Metal Sculpture. A student working in this area might do a dissertation involving one or more of the following research topics: testing coatings for corrosion protection, testing corrosion inhibitors, developing and testing new methods for monitoring corrosion susceptibility, identifying corrosion products and deterioration mechanisms, studying the relationship between atmospheric pollutants and corrosion mechanisms, testing the effects of cleaning regimes on sculpture surfaces and aesthetics, investigating the role of biocorrosion in deterioration of outdoor sculpture and sculpture coatings, or studying issues of original artist intent versus deterioration and conservation approaches.
Sample student background: A student following this curriculum plan would have one of the following backgrounds:
- Be a practicing conservator with experience in sculpture conservation, with a master's degree in art conservation or a related field and additional undergraduate or graduate courses in chemistry, materials science, or metallurgy/metallography
- Have a master's degree in materials science or chemistry, with additional courses and/or experience in sculpture techniques, art history, conservation science, or sculpture conservation
Special prerequisites: GRE required
Suggested coursework:
Required courses (6 credits)
- MSEG 606: Corrosion and Protection
- MSST 645: Technology of Cultural Materials: Metals
- PRES 801: A non-credit seminar for presentation of research in progress will also be required for three semesters; faculty, undergraduates, and graduate students in related departments will be encouraged to attend.
One of these two courses (3 credits)
- MSEG 602: Structure of Materials
- MSEG 603: Analytical Techniques in Materials Science
An additional 9 credits to be chosen from any of the following courses:
- MEEG 634: Air Pollution Processes
- GEOG 651: Microclimatology
- CHEM 622: Electroanalytical Chemistry
- CHEM 623: Chemometrics
- CHEM 624: Principles of Mass Spectrometry
- CHEM 626: Instrumental Methods in Mass Spectrometry
- CHEM 627: Practical Mass Spectrometry
- CHEM 680: Introduction to Polymer Science
- Any art history graduate seminar focusing on sculpture
Followed by the dissertation.
Suggested committee members: The committee could include a faculty member in Museum Studies who does research on corrosion and metal artifacts; a materials scientist with interest in corrosion and protection of metals; a chemist who can analyze atmospheric particulate matter or study deterioration of polymeric coatings; an artist with experience in fabrication techniques and materials of sculpture; external members could be a corrosion scientist and/or a local sculpture conservator or conservation scientist with expertise in metals.
Sample Program of Study for Concentration in Conservation Research and Technical Studies
Dissertation topic: Misconceptions in 19th-century revivalism of 16th-17th-century Old Master techniques: e.g. Delacroix copying Rubens and Washington Allston copying Titian. Contemporary letters, documents, treatises on painting methods would be examined, paintings sampled, and media and pigments compared. (Delacroix mistakenly copied paintings by his hero Rubens when they were covered with discolored varnish and consequently thought they were much darker than they actually were, affecting his painting technique accordingly, and Washington Allston, known as the "American Titian," interlayered varnish into his paint films in an attempt to imitate the natural translucency of aged oil paint making them quite dangerous to clean.)
Sample student background: A student following this curriculum plan would have one of the following backgrounds:
- Be a practicing paintings conservator with a master's degree in art conservation
- Be an art historian with a master's degree with additional undergraduate or graduate courses in chemistry, materials science or paint technology
Special prerequisites: Reading knowledge in French or Italian would be helpful. GRE scores, especially quantitative, are required.
Suggested coursework:
Required coursework (9 credits)
3 courses in current scientific methods, to be adjusted according to the expertise of the applicant, but possibly including:
- ARTC 672 and ARTC 673: Chemical and Physical Techniques Used in the Examination of Art Materials III and IV
- ARTC 666: Independent study on microscopy of paint cross-sections, fluorescent staining, and work with faculty from the Chemistry Department on Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry.
- PRES 801: A non-credit seminar for presentation of research in progress will also be required for three semesters; faculty, undergraduates, and graduate students in related departments will be encouraged to attend.
An additional 9 credits to be chosen from any of the following:
- ARTH 611: Studies in Italian Renaissance Art
- ARTH 617: Studies in Northern Baroque Art
- ARTH 621: Studies in 19th-century Art
- Other relevant courses in the Art Conservation, Art History, or History
Followed by the dissertation.
Suggested committee members: The committee could include one or two art historians with expertise in Renaissance/Baroque or 19th-century paintings, a paintings conservator from WUDPAC, one or two scientists with expertise in microscopy, Fourier-Transform Infra-Red spectroscopy, and GS-MS (from WUDPAC or chemistry department).
Sample Program of Study for Concentration in Historic Preservation Planning
Dissertation topic: The history of urbanism and the preservation of historic urban environments.
Please note: Due to recent retirements of faculty members in this area, candidates are not being considered for dissertation work in Historic Preservation Planning until further notice.
- Sample student background: A student following this curriculum plan would have a master's degree and one of the following backgrounds:
- Previous work with historic sites surveys and National Register nominations in her state
- Oversight of architectural inventories and the publication of those inventories in a series of descriptive technical reports
- Background in historic preservation publication
- Desire to advance in the field of historic preservation and broaden the interpretive framework for the public interpretation of historic architecture, landscapes, and sites.
Goals of research are likely to be professional advancement with an eye toward steering preservation practice toward humanistic as well as planning goals. Special prerequisites: Prior experience in field-based architectural history and preservation planning. MA or certification in architectural history, urban history, historic preservation, or museum studies expected.
Suggested coursework:
Required courses (9 credits)
- UAPP 629: Seminar in Historic Preservation
- MSST 608: Public History: Resources, Research, and Practice
- HIST 605: Theories in Material Culture
- PRES 801: A non-credit seminar for presentation of research in progress will also be required for three semesters; faculty, undergraduates, and graduate students in related departments will be encouraged to attend.
An additional 9 credits to be chosen from any of the following courses
- ARTH 667: The Town House in England and America
- GEOG 638: World Cities in Comparative Perspective
- UAPP 628: Issues in Land Use and Environmental Planning
- UAPP 635: Evolution of the American Urban Landscape
- ARTH 654: Vernacular Architecture
- HIST 657: Historical Archaeology and the Public
- Other courses in Urban Affairs and Public Policy, Museum Studies, History
Followed by the dissertation.
Suggested committee members: The committee could include faculty with a particular interest in urban form and preservation from Geography (urban historical geography); Center for Historic Architecture and Design (urban geography, land use planning, and public policy); Art History (urban architecture, town planning, and historic preservation); History (architectural history, industrial history, and museum studies).
New graduate courses designated with “experimental” 67 numbers are offered every semester. The faculty advisor(s) would work with the student in identifying and taking advantage of these offerings.
