By Thaddeus Imerman, THC Media Relations Coordinator
Nearly 100 architects, contractors, Texas Historical Commission (THC) employees, and various county elected officials gathered in Austin and New Braunfels on November 20 and 21, 2025, to learn about historic courthouses and the importance of restoring such important landmarks.
Hearing from panels of former and current county judges, architects, and planners and developers, the attendees of the third annual Duda Forum engaged in thoughtful conversation, gaining insight into the THC’s Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program (THCPP).
The topic was of particular interest to Steven Semes, a professor of architecture at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.
“We have many of the same issues that you might have right here in Texas in terms of how to preserve monuments like the Comal County Courthouse that we’re in right now,” Semes said before the November 21 session.
A decade ago, the university launched a graduate program, a Master of Science in Historic Preservation, that trains architects to become preservationists and deal with historic buildings.
Semes, who is also director of the Michael Christopher Duda Center for Preservation, Resilience, and Sustainability at the university, explained that the program’s launch in 2015 was made possible in part by a financial contribution of THC Commissioner Fritz Duda and his wife, Mary Lee.
Fritz and Mary Lee are the parents of Michael, a University of Notre Dame alumnus and Texas native who passed away in 2019 at the age of 38. Semes said the Dudas’ endowment came with a caveat of sorts.
“One of the requests of the family was that Notre Dame seek out and build on relationships between Notre Dame and Texas,” Semes said.
As a result, a few years later, the Duda Forum was born. The first two forums were in Dallas and San Antonio, respectively, featuring partnerships with the Texas Historical Foundation (THF), Southern Methodist University, and the San Antonio Conservation Society.
“We have been working with them since the Michael C. Duda Center for Historic Preservation, Resilience, and Sustainability was established in 2022,” Preziosi said.
The THF will continue to work with the university on future Duda Forums in the state. Semes said it was Fritz Duda who suggested the topic of courthouse preservation, as it coincided with the 25th anniversary of the THCPP, thereby allowing for a collaboration between the university and the THC.
Fritz Duda was unable to attend the 2025 Duda Forum, but Commissioner David Gravelle offered thoughts on the partnership.
“Notre Dame is one of the top classical architecture schools in America––if not the world,” he said. “The fact that they have chosen our courthouse program to study and be a part of, I think is a real tribute to our program.”