Ted Ligibel, director of Eastern Michigan University's award-winning Historic Preservation program, began his career in historic preservation in 1974 with the Landmarks Committee of the Maumee Valley Historical Society. In 1976, he became regional preservation officer for the Northwest Ohio Historic Preservation Office under the Historic Preservation Office of the Ohio Historical Society and the Department of the Interior, affiliating this program with Bowling Green State University in 1978. He was asked to direct the historical collection/ development program of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library in 1982. In 1985, he accepted a position as research associate within the University of Toledo's Urban Affairs Center. He established the University's first courses in historic preservation as an instructor in the Geography Planning and History Departments. In 1991, he joined the faculty of Eastern Michigan University as professor in the Historic Preservation program, and became its director in 1999. Now the largest graduate Historic Preservation program in the nation, it offers coursework at both EMU's main campus in Ypsilanti and in Northern Michigan at Northwest Michigan College.
