Buffalo State College's prestigious Art Conservation program - one of only three such accredited degree-granting graduate programs in the country - has received a $500,000 endowment gift from The Getty Grant Program.

The grant will provide endowment support for curriculum and program development, explained Art Conservation Director and Distinguished Service Professor F. Christopher Tahk.

"The Getty has an ongoing commitment to conservation training, and so we are pleased to be able to help the Buffalo State program expand its curriculum to provide the best possible education for future generations of conservators," said Deborah Marrow, director of the Getty Grant Program

"Funds for curriculum and program development are of vital importance to the department if it is to continue in its leadership position in conservation education and training. The conservation profession is undergoing a rapid evolution that includes both the appearance of new specialties and major advances in longer established ones," Tahk said.

"The generous gift from the Getty Grant Program will help ensure that our graduates are well-prepared to embark on successful and rewarding careers as conservators who are effective in helping the nation to address its most pressing needs for proper care of its irreplaceable art and other material culture collections," he added.

"We are proud that the Getty recognizes the excellence of our Art Conservation program, and we are grateful that they are willing to support its future in this way. Buffalo State's Art Conservation program is a great asset to our region, the nation and the world," said Muriel A. Howard, president of Buffalo State College.

The Getty Grant Program is part of the J. Paul Getty Trust, an international cultural and philanthropic institution devoted to the visual arts located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. The Grant Program provides critical support to institutions and individuals throughout the world in fields that are aligned most closely with the Trust's strategic priorities. It therefore funds a diverse range of projects that promote learning and scholarship about the history of the visual arts and the conservation of cultural heritage, and it consistently searches for collaborative efforts that set high standards and make significant contributions. Since its inception in 1984, the Grant Program has supported approximately 2,900 projects in more than 150 countries.

Buffalo State's graduate Art Conservation program prepares students for careers as museum or private conservators to care for artistic, historic or culturally significant material artifacts. The highly competitive program includes a 12-month internship, and its graduates are sought and hired by museums throughout the world, such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Library of Congress, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian Institution.

Conservation and restoration work done by the department and its students can be seen throughout the area, most notably in Forest Lawn Cemetery, City Hall, the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society and the Buffalo Museum of Science.