Meet the Inaugural JuanRaymon Rubio Preservation Fellow
This past fall Preservation Austin and Architexas announced the JuanRaymon Rubio Preservation Fellowship, established to carry forth our late board member’s legacy by championing underrepresented heritage, empowering underrepresented voices in the preservation field, and investing in future preservation leaders. This paid opportunity will annually support an Austin-based student planning a career in historic preservation.
We are thrilled to introduce the inaugural Rubio Fellow, Aseel Al-Khdairat - read on to learn more about Aseel!
Where is your hometown?
I was born and raised in Irbid, a city in northern Jordan with deep historical roots. Growing up there felt like living inside history. Old houses, stone buildings, and historic sites were not rare landmarks; they were part of everyday life, and many of them carried traces of centuries.
Can you describe your path to preservation?
I have been drawn to historic places since childhood. When I began my architecture degree at Jordan University of Science and Technology that attraction became more focused. I found myself consistently pulled toward history of architecture courses and historic sites, not only as physical artifacts, but as a living connection to history. This interest became visible in my design work when I proposed an Intangible Cultural Heritage Center in Amman for my final project—going beyond form and function to ask how architecture can represent memory, identity, and cultural meaning.
I graduated first in my cohort, and was awarded a scholarship to pursue graduate study in the United States. The Master of Science in Historic Preservation program at The University of Texas at Austin presented a turning point in my academic path, allowing me to develop a more rigorous framework for how heritage is preserved, how memory is carried through place, and how preservation can serve communities.
Why does the preservation of underrepresented heritage matter?
Preservation work can lean heavily toward technical decisions and formal documentation, sometimes at the expense of lived memory and cultural meaning. At the same time, the historical record is not evenly preserved. In archives and local history centers, I have noticed that many African American sites, for example, have limited documentation compared to others. That imbalance shapes what gets recognized, protected, and remembered.
Underrepresented heritage preservation helps correct gaps in the record, supports communities in telling their own histories, and makes preservation more honest and inclusive. It is a way to protect not only buildings, but dignity, belonging, and the full story of a city.
What impact do you hope to make in your future career?
I hope to build a career that connects rigorous research with real public value. My goal is to pursue a PhD so I can strengthen my ability to produce scholarship that is useful, ethical, and grounded in communities, and then translate that work into preservation practice, education, and policy.
I am especially committed to the Middle East, where many historic places urgently need documentation and protection amid conflict and ongoing instability. But I also see this work as bigger than one geography. Wherever I work, I want to help people keep their histories visible and cared for, because historic places are not only architecture; they are also memory, identity, and evidence of lived lives.