Dr. Angela Wheeler joined AUR in 2025 as a lecturer in the Cultural Heritage graduate program. She has worked in and researched the cultural heritage sector since 2010, both in the United States and internationally, with a particular focus on (post-)socialist Eurasia. Professor Wheeler has surveyed mid-century public housing in Hawaii, documented Ottoman mosques in the Republic of Georgia, conserved archaeological artifacts at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and consulted with indigenous communities about the impact of fracking on Siberian landscapes - experiences she enjoys introducing to students to show them the breadth of professions within cultural heritage. Her research and teaching have focused on the cultural heritage of marginalized communities, preservation approaches to historic neighborhoods, and the role of states and international organizations in shaping heritage priorities.
Professor Wheeler has previously lectured at Johns Hopkins University, Amherst College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she developed and taught courses on historic preservation, urban studies, and architectural history. Her goal as an educator is to provide students with not only technical skills but the theoretical, historical, and ethical contexts they need to interrogate the value systems underlying cultural heritage practice. As a researcher, Dr. Wheeler鈥檚 work explores how di铿�erent regimes did (or did not) incorporate historic neighborhoods into urban plans, a process that often re铿俥cted whose homes, communities, and cultures were considered deserving of value.
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Featured听Works
- 鈥淐olonial Orientalism and National Vernacularism in Imperial Ti铿俰s,鈥� (Built Heritage,听forthcoming 2026).
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听 - 鈥淩econstructing Rustaveli: the Postsocialist State of Emergency and the Last Soviet Plan for Historic Tbilisi,鈥� (Built Heritage听special issue Heritage Transitions in Eastern Europe: Actors, Institutions, and Potentials for Urban Conservation in the 1980s-1990s,听forthcoming听2025)
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听 - Architectural听Guide:听Tbilisi听(DOM听Publishers,听2023)
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- Wooden Mosques of Adjara: Islamic Architectural Heritage in the Republic of Georgia (2018)
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听 - 鈥淏irth听and听Rebirth:听Mosques听of听Russia听and听the听Caucasus鈥澨齣n听Mosques:听Splendors听of听Islam听(Rizzoli, 2017)
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听 - 鈥淢itigating the Risks of Fracking for Industrial Actors on Northern Indigenous Peoples鈥澨�(ArcticReview听on听Law听&听Politics,听2017)听Alexis听Lerner,听Olga听Chistanova,听Victoria听Koshurina,听Angela听Wheeler
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Courses
- CH听505听Sustainable听Conservation听(Spring听2025)
- CH听508听/听TTM听408听Cultural听Heritage听Tourism:听Intercultural听Interactions听(Spring听2026)