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Profile:

R. Brooks Jeffery is Director of the Drachman Institute in the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and coordinator of its multi-disciplinary graduate program in preservation studies. Jeffery has spent his career documenting, interpreting and disseminating the significance of built environments throughout the world, including the Middle East, Spain, Latin America and the U.S. Southwest. His publications include Cross-Cultural Vernacular Landscapes of Southern Arizona (Vernacular Architecture Forum, 2005, co-edited with Laura Hollengreen),  "From Azulejos to Zaguanes:  The Islamic Legacy in the Built Environment of Hispano-America" (Journal of the Southwest, Spring/Summer 2003), A Guide to Tucson Architecture (University of Arizona Press, 2002, with Anne M. Nequette), Joesler & Murphey:  An Architectural Legacy for Tucson (City of Tucson, 1994) and Yemen:  A Culture of Builders (American Architectural Foundation, 1989).  Jeffery has been a principal investigator on numerous grants and contracts from local, regional and national agencies, totaling over $1,000,000, and in 2006 was given the "Excellence in Resource Stewardship" award from the National Park Service for his students' work creating design guidelines at Petrified Forest National Monument.  In addition to his administrative, teaching and research responsibilities, Jeffery collaborates with governmental and civic agencies on preservation issues locally, regionally, and nationally while serving as a board member on the University of Arizona Historic Preservation Advisory Committee, Tucson Community Design Academy, Arizona Historic Sites Review Committee, and the Vernacular Architecture Forum.  He is a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, US/ICOMOS, and associate member of the American Institute of Architects and the American Society of Landscape Architects.

His current teaching includes Introduction to the Conservation of Cultural Resources, Research Methods, Documentation and Interpretation of the Historic Built Environment,as well as participation on numerous capstone and thesis committees.

Research/Creative Activities:

Jeffery's research and publications are focused on the preservation of the built environment in Tucson, the American Southwest, Latin America, and arid regions throughout the world.  He invites capstone projects that focus not only on historic contexts but also on understanding traditional and vernacular building typologies as precedents for appropriate contemporary design responses that bring value to place.

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