EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY PRESS RELEASE:
YPSILANTI – Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has reappointed Ted Ligibel, a professor at Eastern Michigan University, to the State Historic Preservation Review Board. The appointment was announced Jan. 28, 2014.
Ligibel is director of Eastern Michigan’s award-winning Historic Preservation Program, which is the largest such program in the nation, with 90 graduate students and 15 undergraduates currently enrolled.
The nine-member review board is composed of professionals in the fields of architecture, American history, architectural history, cultural geography, archaeology, historic preservation and other related fields. Ligibel will continue to represent architectural history. His four-year term expires Dec. 31, 2017.
Also appointed to the review board was Rhonda Baker, a historic preservation specialist for the city of Grand Rapids.
“Rhonda and Ted are experienced professionals and will make valuable contributions to the board,” Snyder said, in a press release. “I thank them for their willingness to serve.”
The board is affiliated with the Michigan State Housing Development Authority and reviews the nominations of properties to the National Register of Historic Places. It also provides general advice, guidance and professional recommendations to the State Historic Preservation Office.
"I am very honored to continue to serve on the Michigan Historic Preservation Review Board,” Ligibel said. “It allows me to stay on top of both the state’s and nation’s historic preservation activities, which in turn, helps our students stay current as well. I also have the opportunity to review all Michigan nominations to the nation’s program.”
Ligibel is an advisor emeritus to the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Michigan Historic Preservation Network, and is past chair of the National Council for Preservation Education.
In 1992 and 2008, he served in advisory capacities to President Bill Clinton on neighborhood revitalization, and to Dirk Kempthorne, former U.S. Secretary of the Interior, on the establishment of the River Raisin National Battlefield in southeastern Michigan.
Ligibel began his career in historic preservation in 1974 with the Landmarks Committee of the Maumee Valley (Ohio) Historical Society. He later served as the regional preservation officer for the Ohio Historic Preservation Office.
Ligibel, who lives in Lambertville, Mich. also worked as director of the historical collection development program of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, and was a research associate with the University of Toledo’s Urban Affairs Center, where he established the university’s first courses in historic preservation.
Ligibel began his academic career at Eastern Michigan in 1991, and was named director of the Historic Preservation Program in 1999.
Ligibel has a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and human ecology from the University of Toledo, and both a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in American studies from Bowling Green State University.
