Shantia Anderheggen earned an Art History BA in 1984. After 25 years working in historic preservation, she began a consulting practice, Preservation Strategies, three years ago. She consults on cultural resource and historic preservation projects. Read more from Shantia here.

Q. How did your URI degree best prepare you for your career path?

A. URI’s art history curriculum provided me with an exceptional background in architectural history by seating it within the larger contexts of art, history, and other cultural and societal trends and activities of the time.

In your opinion, what is the value of the arts both academically and in the community?

Art enriches — it creates and adorns all of the places we spend time in, whether by inhabiting or visiting. As art, design, and style changes over time, what was created in the past is the tangible evidence that reveals our predecessors’ taste, interests, choices. And contemporary creations of art often give us glimpses into the future. So, by experiencing art, whether through learning or living, we learn about the past and also have a portal into the future.

What advice would you give to current students or to young people thinking of pursuing a Fine Arts degree?

I believe that creative production is critically important, and if this is a person’s passion, there is always room in the world for what they produce.