Amber N. Wiley PhD is the Wick Cary Director of the Institute for Quality Communities and an Associate Professor of Planning, Landscape Architecture and Design in the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma.
An award-winning scholar, Wiley has over 20 years of experience in teaching, research and professional practice in historic preservation, architecture and community engagement. She has dedicated her career to advancing the history and narrative of design and preservation in Black communities, as well as advocating for theoretically rigorous, thoughtful and inclusive expansions of preservation policy and practice.
Her main research, teaching, and practice commitments are
an approach to interdisciplinarity
offering students opportunities in applied learning
a commitment to the serious issues of equity and justice.
She firmly believes cultural and educational institutions are obligated to actively engage the communities in which they reside, and to increase their accessibility to a diversified constituency through innovative partnerships.
Amber received her Ph.D. in American Studies from George Washington University. She also holds a Master’s in Architectural History and Certificate in Historic Preservation from the University of Virginia School of Architecture, and a B.A. in Architecture from Yale University. She is a native of Oklahoma City with roots in Washington, DC, Maryland, North Carolina, and Arkansas.