Want to Start an Alumnni Chapter?
Our 'Quick Start Guide' shows how simple it can be

By Jaime Kautsky

Eager graduates – around the United States and the globe – have been waiting to start new chapters of the GIA Alumni Association. And with the arrival of the Institute's new "Quick Start Guide: Creating a GIA Alumni Association Chapter," they can.

"Demand for new chapters around the world has never been stronger – we have 20 potential chapters with volunteers who have been waiting for this opportunity," says Rose McKenna, G.G., manager of Alumni Relations. "Our goal is to reach as many GIA graduates as possible and provide them with continuing education and networking opportunities."

The guide is a 12-page brochure that takes graduates through three simple steps to create and maintain a new chapter – tasks some have mistakenly assumed must be long and complicated, or only manageable for those with unlimited resources.

In reality, McKenna says, an Alumni Association chapter can simply consist of a small group of three or four graduates who gather bimonthly to share advice and exchange ideas or develop a larger, more complex organization. Chapters in metropolitan areas or jewelry centers may be able to bring in industry speakers or take field trips every month.

The guide also outlines chapter responsibilities, including meetings and contact with GIA; Web site links to GIA; officer recognition; alumni programs and services; and guidelines on liability, use of names, trademarks and copyrights. It also includes information on GIA's new Alumni Awards program (see The Loupe, Spring 2007).

"The increased interest in starting new alumni chapters worldwide is certainly something we want to support and encourage," says Linda Ellis Harmeling, GIA vice president and chief Advancement officer. "We will help launch as many new GIA alumni groups as there are volunteers wanting to run them."

Tammy Jones, the Web site editor for Jewelry Television in Knoxville, Tennessee, is one of those volunteers. Jones, an Accredited Jewelry Professional and Pearls Graduate, is working toward her Graduate Gemologist (G.G.) diploma and is eager to start an Alumni Association chapter in East Tennessee.

"I'm almost finished with my G.G. courses, but I'm encouraged by the prospect of creating a group in which this kind of learning and discovery could continue," says Jones.

"Some of my GIA alumni coworkers and I tease each other about being 'gem geeks,' because we're so fascinated with the tiniest details about gemstones," she said. "I love the synergy that's created when we brainstorm about everything from the difference between andesine and labradorite to what color a Paraíba tourmaline can be. I think that kind of synergy would grow and multiply through a GIA Alumni Association chapter."

To get a copy of the Quick Start Guide, e-mail alumni@gia.edu or call
(760) 603-4145. Visit www.gia.edu and click on "Alumni Association" to
download a PDF version.