R. Brooks Jeffery
R. Brooks Jeffery is Director of the Drachman Institute at the University of Arizona’s College of Architecture Planning and Landscape Architecture (CAPLA) where he is also Coordinator of its multi-disciplinary Graduate Certificate in Heritage Conservation and Professor with joint appointments in the School of Architecture and School of Landscape Architecture & Planning. At the Drachman Institute, Jeffery directs the College’s community-based research and outreach arm commited to the scholarship of engagement as a cornerstone of professional design education based on the core values of service-learning, collaborative partnerships, and community impact.
Jeffery has spent his career documenting, interpreting and preserving the significance of built environments throughout the world, including the Middle East, Spain, Latin America and the Southwestern U.S. 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 also written dozens of technical reports that advance the knowledge in areas such as the impact of climate change on cultural resources, the contribution of heritage tourism and conservation training in war-torn countries in Middle East, and the revalorization of traditional building practices throughout Latin America.
Jeffery has been a principal investigator on numerous grants and contracts from local, regional and national agencies, totaling over $2.3 million and has received numerous awards for that work. In 2015, he was awarded the distingushed Director's Partnership Award from the National Park Service for "providing innovative leadership in the field of historic preservation" in service to that federal agency. He was also awarded the 2008 Common Ground Award from Tucson's Metropolitan Pima Alliance for his involvement in the Wilmot Library Planning Charette advocating for the preservation, rather than the proposed demolition, of a landmark Modern design as part of an overall sustainable development proposal. In 2007, he was awarded the Alene Dunlap Smith and Paul C. Smith Award from the Tucson-Pima County Historical Commission – Tucson’s highest preservation award – for the “high level of dedication and long-term commitment toward historic preservation in our community”. In 2006, Jeffery was presented with 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 administration, 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, Arizona Historic Sites Review
Committee, and the National Council for Preservation Education. He is a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, US/ICOMOS, and Vernancular Architecture Forum.