Dec 03, 2024  
USC Catalogue 2022-2023 
    
USC Catalogue 2022-2023 [ARCHIVED CATALOGUE]

Heritage Conservation (MHC)


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Completion of this degree requires 48 units and includes 26 units of specified courses, 5 units of thesis preparation and thesis, and 17 units of elective courses as approved by the program director.

Master of Heritage Conservation


Los Angeles provides a unique laboratory in which to learn and challenge conservation issues.  As a relatively young and diverse global city, it is the ideal place to explore a relatively young and diverse global discipline. Our wealth of recent past resources raise a new set of research challenges and the city’s richly diverse communities woven throughout the tapestry of the built environment push us to acknowledge the many layers of history and meaning revealed in the city. It is also a place forever seeking the new, providing opportunities to protect the best of the past while embracing the landmarks of the future. 


Embedded in the School of Architecture at USC, heritage conservation students are instantly part of a multidisciplinary environment, linking landscape architecture, building science, architecture, and conservation. As such, the program curriculum is designed to expose students to a broad range of topics including materials conservation, policy and planning, conservation theory, global conservation efforts, architectural and landscape history, best-practices in resource documentation and evaluation, sustainability, and historic site management. Students are also encouraged to take advantage of the many academic resources in the broader university, including taking courses in real estate, regional history, urban planning, and spatial sciences. Program faculty are leaders in the field, a blend of academics and practitioners that grapple with conservation in real time, seeking creative solutions that balance the integrity of the past with a sustainable future. Through this broad exposure, students begin to formulate their professional path within the discipline.

48-Unit Sample Curriculum


Requirements for Advanced Standing


Students must have one of the following: an accredited graduate certificate in historic preservation or heritage conservation; professional degree or professional registration in architecture or engineering; graduate degree in a related field, such as architectural history, planning or history; and at least five years of teaching or practice (may be combined). Each student will be considered individually. Qualified students will be admitted to a three-semester program at the time of review of admission. Students with advanced standing must complete 36 units.

36-Unit Sample Curriculum


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