Two of the College of the Arts Galleries staff, Class of 2025 grad Jennifer Lee and art student Riley Pettitt, were recently awarded a Getty Post-Baccalaureate Conservation Internship and the Getty Marrow Undergraduate Internship — highly competitive internships offered through the Getty Foundation.
Lee and Pettitt were selected from hundreds of national applicants, marking a proud moment for the CSUF COTA community and an exciting step in their professional journeys.
Jennifer Frias, gallery director and curator, is incredibly proud of her students.
“Their selection for the esteemed internship program is a powerful testament to their dedication, talent and growing potential in the field of contemporary art. It also reflects the caliber of students we cultivate through our gallery program, where mentorship and real-world experience come together to prepare the next generation of arts professionals,” said Frias.
Lee was awarded the prestigious Getty Post-Baccalaureate Conservation Internship, designed to prepare emerging professionals from underrepresented backgrounds for graduate study in the conservation field. The internship provides hands-on experience in art conservation.
Lee has been a valuable member of the COTA galleries team for four years where she has contributed to a range of gallery projects in collections research and management. She has also been instrumental in training incoming interns and student staff in collections-related work.
During the Visual Arts Modernization Project, Lee played a key role in ensuring the proper care of the gallery’s permanent collection, which was temporarily housed in McCarthy Hall during construction.
Lee will work alongside professionals at the Getty Center, Getty Villa, and partner museums such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Huntington and the Fowler Museum at UCLA.
This fall, Lee will serve as curatorial assistant to Frias for an upcoming exhibition featuring new works by contemporary artist Soo Kim, which opens in October.
Pettitt, currently an art-sculpture major and integral member of the COTA galleries’ preparator team, was awarded a coveted Getty Marrow Undergraduate Internship at The Broad in downtown Los Angeles.
Pettitt brings a thoughtful, hands-on approach to gallery operations and exhibition development.
The paid internship allows college students from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to work with professionals in core areas of the museum field such as curatorship, conservation, education, publications and public programming.
This immersive internship will equip Pettitt with foundational curatorial skills, deepen his familiarity with The Broad’s contemporary art collection, and provide valuable insight into how exhibitions are presented to the public.
At The Broad, Pettitt will work alongside the museum’s curatorial team on two major projects: the winter 2025 special exhibition and the summer 2026 collection exhibition.
In addition to administrative tasks in exhibition development, Pettitt will contribute in-depth art historical research and write artist biographies for the museum.
Pettitt will later step into the role of curatorial assistant, working closely with Frias on an upcoming fall exhibition in the COTA galleries.