Robert B. Warden, professor of architecture at Texas A&M University, was appointed director of the College of Architecture’s Center for Heritage Conservation in June 2007.
Warden has been involved in heritage conservation work, both nationally and internationally, since 1986. He practiced as an architect in Philadelphia at the firms of Mitchell Giurgola and Jordan Mitchell, while lecturing in the architectural engineering department at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Penn.
Warden joined the Texas A&M faculty in 1994. He currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in design and architectural theory. His research has focused on developing methods for interpreting historic structures for historical and engineering studies. Some of those notable buildings and sites include the Cathedral St. Just in Narbonne, France, National Landmarks of Fort Pulaski and Montezuma Castle, and the WWII D-Day site at Pointe du Hoc in Normandy, France.
He holds a Master of Art in Philosophy from the University of New Mexico, a Master of Architecture from Texas A&M University, and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University.
Warden replaced former CHC director David Woodcock, who returned to full-time teaching and research in the Department of Architecture. Since its inception in 1991, Woodcock served as director of the Historic Resources Imaging Laboratory, which in 2005 became the Center for Heritage Conservation. Under Woodcock’s leadership, the historic preservation education and research initiatives at Texas A&M gained national acclaim.
The CHC motto, “making the past a significant part of the future, is underscored by its two-fold mission:
