Department of Cultural Affairs names Michelle Ensey Executive Director of Historic Preservation Division
Ensey will also serve as and state historic preservation officer
State Agency Press Release – From the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs
October 2nd, 2024
Santa Fe, NM – New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs is proud to announce that Michelle Ensey has been named executive director of the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division and New Mexico State Historic Preservation Officer.
Ensey has been with the division for 24 years, having served as deputy New Mexico State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) and state archaeologist for seven years before becoming interim director earlier in 2024.
“Michelle brings to her new position decades of experience in the field of archaeology and preservation and an extensive institutional knowledge of New Mexico Historic Preservation Division’s (NMHPD) programs,” said New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs (NMDCA) Cabinet Secretary Debra Garcia y Griego.
“Throughout her long and successful tenure, Michelle has led the division’s important work of safeguarding New Mexico’s cultural heritage while establishing strong relationships with the staff and preservation partners across the state. I am excited to continue working with her.”
As executive director of NMHPD, Ensey oversees a division that protects, preserves, and interprets the unique character of New Mexico by identifying, documenting, and registering the state’s prehistoric and historic properties.
NMHPD partners with state and federal agencies across the state to review projects that may affect historic properties and works with property owners and interested citizens to nominate historic sites and districts to the National Register of Historic Places and the state Register of Cultural Properties.
These registered properties range from some of New Mexico’s most famous buildings – Palace of the Governors and Taos Pueblo – to single-family homes in historic neighborhoods.
“I’m honored to serve as NMHPD’s next executive director and as New Mexico’s state historic preservation officer,” Ensey said. “I believe my more than two decades of experience with the organization has prepared me well, and I’m excited to build on NMHPD’s work to protect New Mexico’s historic properties for future generations.”
Before joining NMHPD, Ensey worked at Southwest Archaeological Consultants and Bandelier National Monument. Ensey holds a Master of Arts degree in Anthropology from Washington State University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Anthropology from Central Washington University.
She will continue in her role as state archaeologist. Her appointment as executive director and state historic preservation officer was effective September 28, 2024.
About the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division: NMHPD manages, oversees, and coordinates historic preservation activities across the state. The division educates the public about historic preservation and protects thousands of historic and archaeological sites in New Mexico. If you have ever visited an archaeological site, stopped on the side of the road to read a historic marker, or appreciated a well-maintained historic building in your community, you have likely engaged with the work of the NMHPD.
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