Wyant Trust Supporting UB Nursing School

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo School of Nursing has received a $70,000 gift from a trust created by the late Christian Wyant, who died in 1991 and was the husband of the late Gertrude Vaughn Wyant, a 1936 alumnus of the school.

Support from the unrestricted gift to the Nursing Endowment Fund initially will provide support for the school's Center for Nursing Research. The center, established in 1995, assists faculty and students in developing interdisciplinary research, provides computer resources, houses a research library and serves as a repository for research funding sources.

"Private gifts like that from Mr. Wyant go beyond what the UB nursing school receives in basic support and help the school maintain its margin of excellence in higher education," said Mecca S. Cranley, dean of the UB nursing school.

"A perpetual endowment is particularly important because it provides discretionary funding for the school to use as the need arises, especially since our needs can change very rapidly," she added. "What is so unique about this type of planned gift is other nursing- school alumni and friends can also show their support by adding to the endowment or even establish their own endowment, if they choose to do so."

Gertrude Wyant, a native of Corfu, was a teacher in Adams County School District 14 in Colorado and resided in Aurora, Colo., until her death in 1989. She was a member of the American Nurses Association, Aurora Republican Women, Retired School Employees Association and Alpha Delta Kappa, an honorary teacher's society.