The Gemological Institute of America announced that it has 76 scholarships available for the 2010 calendar year. The total amount of these scholarships is slightly more than $196,000, which includes funds from private donors and GIA’s endowment fund. 

On-campus scholarships for gemology and jewelry arts courses are offered at GIA locations in the U.S., and gemology and jewelry design scholarships are available at the Thailand, India and London campuses. Distance Education awards are also being offered.

Hundreds of annual donors have supported the Richard T. Liddicoat Scholarship Fund, created by the GIA Alumni Association in 2003 to honor Liddicoat, the Institute’s longtime president and chairman. The Fund furthers Liddicoat’s personal mission of providing gemological education to worthy and gifted students by awarding two full scholarships each year in the GIA Graduate Gemologist (G.G.) diploma program. 

New scholarships for 2010 include the Rio Grande Scholarship, which will help fund one On-campus Graduate Jeweler (G.J.) program at the Carlsbad, California campus. Alan Bell, the donor of the Rio Grande Scholarship, explained why he started this fund.

The application period for these scholarships is June 15 through Oct. 30. Applications can be obtained online at www.gia.edu/scholarships. All GIA scholarships, along with their respective application requirements, are listed.

JCK