In the late 1950s, the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Engineering hired Joseph Bergantz, a local consultant with considerable research and development experience in the Chemical Engineering industry, to design a Chemical Engineering program for the school. The Department was formally established in 1961, with the announcement of Bachelor and Master of Science in Chemical Engineering degrees, and Donald Brutvan became the first full-time faculty member in that Spring. Bergantz also came on as a full-time Professor and Chair.

In 1968, Sol Weller became Acting Chair of the Department while Bergantz was on sabbatical. When Bergantz returned and became Associate Dean of the Engineering School, Harry Cullinan was named Department Chair.