Architectural Studies graduate Emily Stood (BA ARCS 2023), a native of the Chicago suburbs, joins the Urban Design and Preservation Division of the American Planning Association as the 2024-2025 Historic Preservation Scholar. Stood says part of her work with the APA involves communication with a diverse array of groups and populations, and of summarizing historical documents, which she says “ARCS gave me the language and technical reading ability to do.” She also points out that the writing skills she learned as an ARCS student prepared her for her current employment. “My focus at the APA is in rewriting policy, which I'm able to understand better through some of the work we did in planning-based classes for ARCS.”
Writing was always a hallmark of Stood’s undergraduate experience. As a student in the ֱ State University Honors College, Stood wrote an honors thesis, titled “Lighting and Society in the Public Spaces of the Garnier Opera” under the direction of Dr. Elwin Robison. Writing a thesis allowed Stood to engage in scholarly, archival research in architectural history at the undergraduate level, and it prepared her for the types of research she now does professionally with the APA.
Growing up, Stood was always interested in historic buildings and sites, as well as hands-on designing and making. ARCS gave her the opportunity to explore these interests, and to discover her passion for Historic Preservation. The program also allowed her to pursue her interests by completing three minors: history, historic preservation and scenic design.
After completing her BA in Architectural Studies with University Honors, Stood went on to a Master of Science in Historic Preservation at Tulane University in New Orleans, one of the nation’s top preservation programs. Tulane University’s master’s program was impressed with Stood’s preparation for graduate studies and offered her a $50,000 scholarship. She credits Architectural Studies for the ways it set her apart from other applicants to the master’s program. “Preservation students can have pretty wide backgrounds, so my ARCS experience put me ahead of my peers for most of our more technical work,” Stood says. “It also gave me a wider background and communication skills, which allows me to understand my classmates’ backgrounds and work with them in group settings.”
Brett Tippey, Program Coordinator for Architectural Studies said that, “as a researcher and a preservation specialist, Emily represents the high caliber alumni that graduate from the ARCS program.” Alison Smith, Dean of ֱ State’s Honors College concurs: “The Honors College is proud of Emily’s accomplishments”.
When asked what advice she has for current and future Architectural Studies students, Stood didn’t hesitate to answer: “Take advantage of the opportunities you have to explore lots of aspects of the built environment. ARCS allows for a huge variety of studies, and one thing I’ve learned is that everything in the built environment is connected somehow.”