JCK magazine became the first sponsor of the Gemological Institute of America’s fourth International Gemological Symposium by contributing $100,000 to help support the event, scheduled for Aug. 27–29, 2006, in San Diego. The symposium, considered by GIA to be “one of the gem and jewelry industry’s most important educational events of the decade,” will include seminars, demonstrations, and forums featuring key figures from within and outside the gem industry.

Frank Dallahan, publisher of JCK said it was a logical event to sponsor because of its significance to the industry.

“Symposium has something to offer for every aspect of the gem and jewelry trade,” Dallahan said. “It’s helpful, instructive, and impressive—every possible positive you could use to describe it is what it does for our industry. I titled my column in the JCK issue that followed the 1999 event, ‘You Should Have Been There!’ and well, you should have.”

The event is expected to draw more than 1,000 industry leaders from around the world. Experts from GIA and the global industry will give detailed presentations on key issues; others will provide forecasts and solutions for topics of concern. One of the more popular features of the 1999 Symposium was the “War Room,” where attendees engaged in lively debates with key industry figures.

Dallahan said his favorite segment of Symposium 1999 was a lecture given by Rushworth Kidder of the Institute for Global Ethics. Kidder told the story of the disastrous 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion in the former USSR (now Ukraine), and explained how it was caused by a lack of ethical behavior, which led to a disregard for safety procedures.

“In an industry facing serious ethical dilemmas, Kidder’s presentation was spellbinding, clear, motivating, and helpful,” Dallahan said. “GIA did an outstanding job at bringing in speakers from outside the industry to help frame issues occurring within our industry. We’re proud to be sponsoring an event of such magnitude.”

JCK has regularly sponsored GIA’s Career Fairs, was a benefactor of Symposium 1999, and has supported many of the Institute’s diamond and gemstone research funds over the last decade.

To learn more about how to become a sponsor of Symposium 2006, or to contribute to GIA’s Endowment Fund for Research and Education, contact Director of Institute Relations Jane Lynch by e-mail, jane.lynch@gia.edu, or call 800-421-7250, ext. 4114; outside the U.S. call 760-603-4114.

JCK