The Gemological Institute of America’s Vice President of Education Brook Ellis has been re-elected as the Second Vice President of the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) Accrediting Commission, the nationally recognized accrediting agency for distance learning. GIA offers gemological studies through distance education programs. The Institute has been a member of the DETC for several decades, and Ellis previously served on DETC’s Board of Trustees.

The DETC, founded in 1926, is based in Washington, D.C., and is a nonprofit educational association and leading advocate of quality distance education learning in America. Ellis will maintain his position with the independent eleven-member board of the Accrediting Commission of the DETC, which was established in 1955.

In his role, Ellis will continue to review information submitted from applying organizations, and evaluate them for accreditation. Ellis also assists in making decisions for the development of new standards and the revision of outdated ones for the DETC Accrediting Commission.

Ellis’s career in the jewelry industry spans more than 40 years. He served on GIA’s Board of Governors from 1983-95, and was appointed the Institute’s vice president of Operations in 1995 and vice president of Education in 1996. Ellis has held executive positions with the American Gem Society, the 24 Karat Club of Canada, Jewellers Vigilance Canada, Inc., and currently is a member of the Jewelers’ Education Foundation’s Board of Governors.

JCK