The National Council for Preservation Education has over fifty member institutions located across the United States. These academic programs in historic preservation and allied fields have educated thousands of students, many of whom have developed professional careers as professional historic preservation leaders working for local, state, federal government agencies, non-governmental organizations and in the private sector in the US and elsewhere in the world.

The NCPE Guide to Academic Programs in Historic Preservation and Allied Fields is provided as a reference source to assist prospective students in identifying various historic preservation education degree programs in the United States. Further information may be obtained by contacting the particular institutions directly from links in the NCPE Guide.

The National Council for Preservation Education publishes the Preservation Education & Research (PER) journal. The mission of this peer-reviewed journal is to exchange and disseminate information concerning preservation education and research. NCPE sponsors internships and preservation conferences and publishes on a range of preservation education topics and issues, including "Toward Promotion and Tenure: Guidelines for Assessing the Achievement of a Preservation Educator."

Another service supported by funding from the National Council for Preservation Education is the PreserveNet web site, a comprehensive database of regularly updated internet resources, internships, field schools and current professional opportunities and scholarship information that is maintained by Cornell University students.

A U.S. federal historic preservation official once noted: "The coordination of education programs is crucial to the success of historic preservation in every town, city, and state across the country." It was largely for that reason that over thirty years ago a Higher Education Study Group sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation recommended the formation of an association of preservation educators. In response to this call, the National Council for Preservation Education (NCPE) was established in 1980 as a non-profit educational corporation chartered in the District of Columbia and committed to these objectives:

• Encouraging and assisting in the development and improvement of historic preservation education programs and endeavors in the United States and elsewhere;
• Coordinating efforts related to preservation education with public and private organizations and interested individuals;
• Facilitating the collection, exchange and dissemination of information and ideas concerning preservation education;
• Creating public awareness of endeavors in preservation education.

Led by an elected Executive Committee, the National Council for Preservation Education has developed guidelines for minimum standards in preservation education degree programs. Applications for organizational memberships are reviewed by the NCPE Membership Committee and assessed for compliance with the NCPE Membership Standards. The members are certified on the recommendation of the Membership Committee and by approval of the NCPE membership at the annual meeting. Certified members in good standing and pending members are listed on the NCPE Guide.

Annual membership meetings are held in the fall, generally at the same location and time as the annual conference of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. A highpoint of each annual meeting is the dinner banquet at which NCPE members and guests honor an outstanding preservation educator with NCPE's James Marston Fitch Award.

For more information of the National Council for Preservation Education, please contact the chair of the NCPE Executive Committee listed below.

See the NCPE Guide to Academic Programs in Historic Preservation and Allied Fields