We owe a debt of gratitude to Buffalo State College President Muriel Howard, whose leadership on this issue made tuition remission a reality.

and BOOK ALLOWANCES!

Buffalo State College has also stepped forward to provide book allowances of $1,000 each year for all 1st- and 2nd-year students. This will allow 1st-year students to purchase core books, and 2nd-year students to buy specialty books, to form the basis of their own art conservation libraries.

Many, many thanks to the college administration for helping the Art Conservation Department provide the best possible education, training, and resources for our students, helping to ensure their ongoing success in the field of art conservation!

James was honored with a President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching during the Academic Convocation in September 2007 for his outstanding contributions to Buffalo State. The quotes below are taken from letters written by faculty, staff, students, and administrators who supported James' nomination for this award.

-- “... the world’s artwork is in much better condition due to his training.”
-- “With an infectious enthusiasm for his work and great respect for his students, James creates an environment that fosters both learning and creativity.”
-- “James’s success as a teacher is apparent in the success of the department’s graduates...many of whom hold positions of significant responsibility in prestigious museums across the country.”
-- “Whether it be staying late, shortening his lunch, or coming in on the weekends, he finds the time to work with you.”
-- “...he has been an intrinsic part of making this program an acknowledged world leader in conservation training.”
-- “His teaching style reflects years of conservation experience and enthusiasm for his work”
-- “His service to... the Burchfield-Penney Art Center, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, and the Roycroft Campus has been of enormous benefit not only to the institutions, but to our students.”

The department celebrated with a champagne toast after the ceremony with James and his family including his wife Patricia ('75), daughters Monica and Natalie, and his parents. Congratulations from the department James!!!

Located at the crossroads of a historically significant parkway system and home to an impressive collection of world-class architecture, Elmwood Village is a premier urban, mixed-use neighborhood that dates back to Joseph Ellicott's 1804 plan for the City of Buffalo. The American Planning Association has selected Elmwood Village as one of 10 Great Neighborhoods in America for its vitality, broad spectrum of cultural and social assets, and its commitment to maintaining high community standards while solving real problems.

Tucked inside the City of Buffalo, the Elmwood Village is a neighborhood where one can find examples of works by renowned landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted and architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The village also is home to several world-class cultural institutions, including the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, which contains one of the country's best collections of modern art. It includes a prosperous commercial district, primarily along Elmwood Avenue, with more than 200 shops and restaurants. Four large colleges and universities are located in or near the neighborhood, adding to the area's diversity and vibrancy. Helping make the neighborhood attractive and comfortable to pedestrians is the Elmwood Village Association, which has established design guidelines for the area to ensure new development does not detract from the existing architecture and character.

Go to the American Planning Association's website to read the rest of this article.

Through the generosity of X-Rite Incorporated, the department will soon receive a donation of Color iQC software, Eye-One Pro color management system, and a Munsell Book of Color, a donation valued at over $5,000. The software and equipment will allow for accurate color measurement and color management, including the calibration of printers to ensure consistent, reliable, and accurate colors. The Munsell colors are used in ASTM standards studies and are useful in understanding color theory. Thanks to X-Rite, we will now have our own copy, housed in the department. We are grateful for the company's support of our department.

Congratulations to Greg Smith for winning his second Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship award from the Buffalo State College Research Foundation! This summer, Greg worked with undergraduate geology student Rob Klimshaw to confirm a case study presented by researchers at the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI).

The project uses IR spectroscopy to distinguish lapis pigment coming from mineral sources in Afghanistan from similar pigments (both mineral and synthetic) originating in Chile and Siberia. The characteristic IR spectrum peak at 2340 cm-1 identified by GCI scientists suggests that IR can be used to identify raw materials from Afghanistan, and therefore, can be used to authenticate artwork and study early trade routes, for instance the use of Afghan lapis in Anglo Saxon and Celtic manuscripts.

Greg and Rob hope to explain why this anomalous band appears in the Afghan sample, as well as extend the study to as many of the 13 known lapis deposits as possible. Rob provided the geology expertise for characterizing the lapis deposits' mineralogy, and Greg and Rob performed a number of sample manipulations to identify the source of the IR band, including chemical and thermal treatments. They also used infrared microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and calorimetry to study the samples. In his spare time, Rob prepared lapis pigment from mineral samples using the historical recipe recorded by Cennino Cennini.