Faculty
The historic preservation department at SCAD has the largest dedicated faculty of any preservation department in the United States.
Jim Abraham
Jeff Eley, department chair
Professor Jeff Eley has taught at the Savannah College of Art and Design since 1983 and has also served as the director of off-campus programs (1987-1997), dean of international studies (1997-2000) and vice president for academic services (2000-2005). Since 2011, he has headed the university’s department of historic preservation.
Outside of the classroom, Professor Eley has served as a member the Georgia National Register Review Board for the Historic Preservation Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (2006-10) and currently is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Historic Savannah Foundation (2006 -) and US/ICOMOS (2012 -). He serves as the local chair of the 2013 US/ICOMOS Symposium The Historic Center and the Next City: Envisioning Urban Heritage Evolution.
Professor Eley holds degrees in the history of art and architecture from Virginia Commonwealth University and University of Virginia. Post-graduate study includes the Victorian Society Summer Study program in England in 1985 and the European University/Hermitage Museum Summer Seminar in 1999. At Charlottesville, Eley specialized in modern Europe and American architecture and British American colonial architecture. Student internships included work with the archivist of the American Institute of Architects and the director of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (Preservation Virginia).
Eley has curated exhibitions for SCAD including It’s in the Mail… an exhibit of special stamps and posters commissioned by the Royal Mail (British Postal System). He is the author of the Savannah Sketchbook and has spoken about Savannah and her history on numerous occasions. Current interest includes early Hilton Head modernism and advocacy for the recent past.
Justin Gunther
Justin Gunther is Professor of Historic Preservation at Savannah College of Art and Design, joining the eLearning faculty in 2008 and full-time at the Savannah campus in 2011. His interests focus on issues surrounding preservation of the recent past, historic site management, adaptive reuse, and material culture. Before coming to SCAD, he was curator of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater where he supervised the care of the buildings, collections, and landscape and organized the museum’s exhibition program. Previously, he was Manager of Restoration at George Washington’s Mount Vernon and oversaw the restoration of the plantation’s historic structures and supervised its architectural fragments collection. A native of Richmond, Virginia, Gunther has an undergraduate degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. His master of fine arts in historic preservation was completed at the Savannah College of Art and Design. He has also attended the Victorian Society in America Summer School in Newport, RI, the Poplar Forest Field Restoration School, and the Attingham Summer School.
Justin Gunther has presented at numerous preservation and architectural history symposia. He is author of the book Historic Signs of Savannah (Arcadia Publishing, 2004) and has written numerous articles on both Fallingwater and Mount Vernon. His professional affiliations include the Association for Preservation Technology, National Trust for Historic Preservation, ICOMOS, and DOCOMOMO. He serves as a board member for Historic Savannah Foundation’s 13th Colony, member of the Historic Savannah Foundation education committee, and member of the Ten Chimneys Preservation Advisory Committee.
Chad Keller
Chad Keller is Professor of Historic Preservation at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). He joined the faculty after serving as a Multimedia Designer at the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH) and as an Adjunct Professor of Architectural History at the University of Virginia (UVA). Keller’s research and teaching focus involve the integration of newer digital technologies into the investigative and documentation process of cultural heritage sites. Before joining UVA, he was the Assistant Director of Computer Aided Design in the Architectural Research Department at James Madison’s Montpelier. At Montpelier, he participated in the investigation, research, documentation and restoration of Madison’s historic home, as well as developing, designing and maintaining the organization’s website. During his time at UVA and SCAD, Keller developed academic courses, which expose students to digital technologies that can facilitate their research in historic preservation. The courses are designed to be hands-on, giving students the opportunity to work directly with the various tools and technologies, and learn how to implement them in the field. Technologies covered in the courses are three-dimensional modeling, three-dimensional scanning, geographic information systems and digital photogrammetry.
Keller has conducted numerous 3D graphics visualization projects involving historic reconstructions, including several interactive 3D models of historic sites and 3D scanning campaigns of cultural heritage monuments and artifacts. He has been involved in many notable projects, such as Virtual Williamsburg, Digital Montpelier and Rome Reborn, and has worked with the Vatican Museum, Dresden State Museum, Minnesota Historical Society, Mount Vernon Ladies Association and St. Thomas Historical Trust. He co-authored “The Medieval Design Process at Southwell Minster” in New Approaches to Medieval Architecture (Ashgate Publishing 2011) and his work has been presented at various national and international conferences. Keller was recently selected by Adobe to take part in their Education Leaders Program, which recognizes educators for their innovative digital work.
Jong-Hyun Lim
Jong-hyun Lim earned a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture from Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea. While and after completing an M.S degree in historic preservation at the University of Pennsylvania, he worked on various conservation and publication projects for the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), the National Park Service (NPS), the Center for Historic Buildings of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), and the Construction and Environment Research Center. He worked as an intern, field surveyor, project manager and academic researcher in both South Korea and the United States. After spending a year as a visiting scholar at Oxford, U.K., he became a professor of Historic Preservation at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in 2008, and continues his postgraduate research on the International Vernacular Architecture at the Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development Center of Oxford Brookes University.
Based on his multi-disciplinary research, professional and teaching experience in architectural engineering, design, and history in the U.S, U.K and South Korea, Lim’s teaching focus and research interests include recording and interpretation of cultural heritage, international preservation policies and cross-cultural studies on heritage conservation, sustainable preservation planning and practices on historic urban landscape. He has published conference proceedings and journal articles on various preservation topics. As a professional preservationist, Lim has been actively involved in diverse national and international symposia as both an invited speaker, discussant and moderator. Lim has presented on diverse topics about philosophical, scientific and planning issues within the historic and contemporary built environments. Currently, he serves as a member of various national and international organizations including ICOMOS-ICHAM (International Committee on Archaeological Site Management), AAHM (Asian Academy for Heritage Management), INTBAU (International Network for Traditional Building Architecture & Urbanism), National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Forum-UNESCO for University and Heritage.
Lisa Nunziata, Administrative Assistant
Lisa Nunziata comes to us as a graduate of University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Psychology and Administration of Justice. Lisa is no stranger to the healthcare field, having spent the past eight years specializing in case management and behavioral health counseling, which eventually morphed into business administration and landed her a position as the Operations Supervisor for Beaufort Memorial Hospital. With some background in real estate and personal experiences renovating and designing her own homes, Lisa is very excited to be a part of the academic world here at SCAD, specifically historic preservation. She is passionate about ensuring our faculty, students and staff has all the means possible to ensure our department can successfully prepare its students for successful careers. When not working, Lisa enjoys competitively swimming, the beach, traveling and time with friends and family.
Connie Capozzola Pinkerton
Connie Capozzola Pinkerton is a professor of Historic Preservation at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Pinkerton joined the faculty in 2002, and teaches courses in historical research, cultural landscape studies, and preservation law. Current research interests include international heritage protection, and the connection of historic preservation with social justice.
Pinkerton has a bachelor of arts degree in anthropology from the State University of New York at Albany. Her first career was as an archeologist, conducting surveys, excavations and artifact analysis on sites throughout the Mid-Atlantic, the Southeast, and in Puerto Rico. Pinkerton was working as a cartographer on projects for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration when she made the move to Georgia to begin the master of fine arts program at the Savannah College of Art and Design.
Pinkerton has presented at several preservation conferences, and is the co-author of The Savannah College of Art and Design: Restoration of an Architectural Heritage. She is on the board of directors of the Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home Foundation in Savannah, and is a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Georgia Historical Society, and the US chapter of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (US/ICOMOS). Along with her colleagues in the department, she is active in the planning of the 16th Annual US/ICOMOS Symposium hosted by the College in May 2013.
Tom Taylor, Ph.D.