Sherry Frear (M.A. ’01/M.L.A. ’02) has been selected to serve as the new chief of the National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks (NHL) Program at the National Park Service (NPS). She will serve as the agency’s first landscape architect to lead these national historic-designation programs.
Acquiring both a master’s in historic preservation planning (HPP), and a master’s in landscape architecture (LA) at Cornell, Frear’s unique academic training leveraged her professional career in the public sector, serving as a landscape architect and preservationist in positions at the local, county, and federal levels in the Washington, D.C. metro area. As a student, her theses for the HPP and LA programs both explored the historic and natural landscapes of the nation’s capital.
“Since completing my education in 2002, I’ve split my career between landscape design and construction, and preservation program management, and I’m thrilled to now be in a role that will draw on all of my education and experience,” Frear said. “As both a historic preservationist and landscape architect, I hope to bring a holistic, integrated approach to the ongoing preservation and continuation of the built and natural environments.”
The National Register of Historic Places was formed in 1966 following the National Historic Preservation Act, legislation focused on recognizing and preserving historic and archaeological sites in the United States. The National Register and Landmarks Program, in addition to historic buildings and structures, profiles prominent historic landscapes nationally. Through a recent effort called the “National Register Landscape Initiative” the National Park Service designated several stakeholders in the program to identify cultural landscapes across the country. Sites under these programs have included historic districts, farmsteads, cemeteries, and trails.