Dr. Jan Matthews leaving NPS for the University of Florida

After six years of serving the National Park Service as Associate Director, Cultural Resources and Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places, Janet Snyder Matthews, Ph.D., will leave the agency on Friday, December 11, to join the faculty of the University of Florida. She will teach in the Historic Preservation Program of the College of Design, Construction and Planning beginning in January 2010. “Jan Matthews has given her all to the National Park Service during her tenure at the helm of our cultural resource programs,” said National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis. “In her new position at the University of Florida, she will be able to share her considerable experience with her students and help teach the next generation of preservationists. We wish her well and thank her for her service to the NPS" As Associate Director, Dr. Matthews has produced a new Programmatic Agreement for Compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Under her directorship, the number of National Historic Landmarks reached 2,461 and the number of properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places came to 85,001. Her accomplishments also include working with colleagues within and outside of the National Park Service to confirm the significance of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, the first national water trail, and accelerated the digitization of the National Register of Historic Places. The National Park Service will immediately begin a search for Dr. Matthews’s successor.