Towson University recently announced its BTU Partnership Awards; these awards celebrate the efforts of faculty, students, staff, and community partners, and the collaborative work being done that benefits the communities it serves. Preservation Maryland, in partnership with Towson University’s Archaeology Program, was selected as a recipient of the 2025 BTU Partnership Award, recognizing our ongoing collaboration with Towson University to support historic preservation, civic engagement, and archaeology in Baltimore, with a focus on relationship building.
The BTU Partnership Awards are part of Towson University’s BTU – Partnerships for Greater Baltimore initiative, which celebrates productive, meaningful partnerships between TU and community organizations. BTU has become a cornerstone of TU’s outreach and civic mission: since its formal launch, the program has grown to support hundreds of active partnerships across Greater Baltimore.
“Being named a BTU awardee is recognition not just of Preservation Maryland’s work, but of the value of partnership, capacity-building, and long-term community engagement,” said Preservation Maryland’s President CEO Nicholas Redding. According to the university, awardees are selected based on their impact, the strength of the collaboration, and their ability to deliver meaningful outcomes for Baltimore’s communities. For Preservation Maryland, this award validates our commitment to ethical and inclusive historic preservation — especially when paired with academic and public archaeology.
About the Project: Baltimore Community Archaeology Lab
Our award-winning work is centered on the Baltimore Community Archaeology Lab, a joint initiative between Preservation Maryland, Towson University, and local Indigenous organizations. This kind of collaboration is deeply aligned with both TU’s mission and Preservation Maryland’s vision: to preserve places not just for their physical structures, but for their human stories — especially those too often marginalized or erased.
In partnership with the Baltimore Community Archaeology Lab (BCAL) at Towson University and the Native American Liaison Committee of the Council for Maryland Archaeology (CfMA), Preservation Maryland co-hosted the first-ever Summit of Maryland Indigenous People and Archaeologists in September 2024.
In 2025 we continued that commitment as a co-host of the Second Annual Summit— a direct result of the momentum and relationships built in 2024.
Learn more about the partnership and the project via a short video produced by TU here.