Ann Coppinger heads the Conservation Department of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Museum Studies specializing in costume and textile conservation from FIT. She was the 2001-2002 National Endowment for the Arts Master Apprentice at the Textile Conservation Workshop in South Salem, N.Y., where she continued as a staff conservator for another four years. Ms. Coppinger currently teaches an online course for The Northern States Conservation Center on the Care of Textiles, in addition to teaching a graduate class at NYU's MA in Costume Studies . Prior to taking her Museum Studies degree, Ms. Coppinger worked for 22 years in the fashion industry in New York City. She has degrees in both fashion design and pattern making from FIT, as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing from Saint John’s University.