Randy Mason

Randall Mason, PhD, FAAR, is Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design, where he has taught since 2004. He has served in several leadership roles for the School: Chair of Penn’s Graduate Program in Historic Preservation (2009-2017); Executive Director of PennPraxis (2014-2017); and founding director of the Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites (2019-2023). He currently leads the Urban Heritage Project research group.

Educated in geography, history, and urban planning (PhD Columbia University), Mason’s work addresses preservation, planning, and public space issues. Recent teaching and practice work includes: equitable redevelopment studios in Detroit, Philadelphia and Montgomery; cultural landscape research and planning projects in Washington, DC; conservation of Rwandan genocide memorials; preservation technical assistance in Alabama, and a conservation management plan for Miller House & Garden in Columbus, IN. While at Penn he has worked with the Getty Conservation Institute, the National Park Service, the Rwandan government, and many other partners. His research and practice have been supported by grants from the Mellon Foundation, William Penn Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, J.M. Kaplan Fund, National Park Service, and Getty Foundation, among others.

Mason’s scholarship includes numerous articles, reports, and books on preservation theory and urban history, including The Once and Future New York (winner of the SAH Antoinette Forrester Downing Award). He was a Rome Prize fellow at the American Academy in Rome (2012-13) and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Gothenburg. Before arriving at Penn in 2004, he taught at University of Maryland and RISD, and worked at the Getty Conservation Institute and in private practice.