The Master of Arts in Heritage Resources (MAHR) Program is a two-year, multi-disciplinary program. This degree is for individuals who are interested in working at, managing, or administering historic sites, who are interested in preserving cultures, or who would like to assist groups in these endeavors.  The MAHR curriculum is tailored to meet both the academic and practical needs of the preservation professional with a multi-faceted approach that integrates classroom learning with applied learning experiences in the field.

The MAHR program is broader in scope than other graduate degrees in CRM, Historic Preservation, History, or other allied programs. In fact the need for this type of holistic, multi-disciplinary program was identified by various federal agencies. Since Natchitoches is a nexus of many of these agencies and since the region offers such a diverse and dense collection of heritage resources, NSU was approached to develop this much-needed multi-disciplinary degree.

In fact not only did these professional agencies work with the MAHR faculty in developing the program, they continue to play an active role in our program. Through our professional partnerships, MAHR students participate in projects with these agencies through class assignments, service learning, internships, practicums, field schools, internships, and their project theses.

The project thesis is the culminating experience in the MAHR degree. The project thesis provides graduate students an oppor­tunity to engage in a field-based project for a community, agency or organization. It requires the application of theoretical knowledge or methods to a practical problem and allows the student to produce valuable tangible contributions to their field.

The MAHR program also offers competitive graduate research assistantships.  The majority of these assistantship are joint ventures with our professional partners in which the student is placed with National Park Service, US Forest Service, etc. and works on projects with them.

Want to know more about MAHR program projects and activities? Visit www.heritageresources.org to learn about our most recent adventures and accomplishments.