Preserving a Tradition of Giving

Barbara Campagna ’86GSAPP has spent the last three decades preserving historic structures for the benefit of future generations. Now she’s planning a gift through her will to ensure that tomorrow’s architecture students have the opportunity to study at Columbia University.

The first woman in her family to go to graduate school—and the only one to attend an Ivy League school—Barbara considers the opportunity to study at Columbia to be the defining moment of her life and career.

“I attended Columbia thanks to a
generous scholarship. I’m planning my gift now
so that others like me can study
what they love and make an impact.”

“Learning about preservation and architecture in New York City, in the first and oldest program in the country, was so inspiring,” she says. “Every day I felt like I’d won the lottery.”

She did her master’s thesis on a landmark former asylum in her hometown of Buffalo, a site that had great meaning for her. The experience focused her career, and she has since worked on some of the most significant landmarks in the country as an award-winning architect, planner, and historian.

“It is hard to separate my career in the preservation field from my relationship to Columbia,” she says. "The friendships I made have lasted through the decades and have been one of the most significant and ongoing features of my life.”

As co-founder and architectural leader of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Sustainability Program, Barbara understands the importance of preserving institutions and giving them a sustainable future. By planning a gift to Columbia through her will, she will support scholarships needed to attract students with a passion for preservation.

“I have had an incredibly exciting career, working on some of the most significant landmarks in the country. I would have had a very different life without the opportunities that the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation afforded me. I want future students to know that if they choose a topic that they love and they have the opportunity to study at a school like Columbia, they too can make a huge impact on the field.”