Jewelers of America, Henne Jewelers launch Nina Pugliese memorial scholarship

Nina Pugliese’s name is moving from Henne Jewelers’ cases into the classroom. Jewelers of America and Henne Jewelers have launched the Nina Pugliese Memorial Scholarship to back jewelry education and preserve the influence of the Pittsburgh designer, buyer and saleswoman who spent 46 years with the family-owned store.

Applications opened May 14 and run through June 30, 2026. The scholarship is open to applicants who are at least 18 and either currently enrolled in an accredited and/or certified jewelry training program beginning by fall 2026, or currently employed in the jewelry industry. Candidates must also explain how their work or studies, personal values and career goals embody Pugliese’s legacy, making the award as much about character and craft as credentials.

Pugliese joined Henne Jewelers in 1978 at age 18 and worked there for more than four decades, rising from sales associate to jewelry buyer, designer and buyer-curator of collections. Henne has described her as a beloved long-time team member whose warmth, kindness, faith, artistry and connection with customers helped shape the store’s identity. The scholarship keeps that history tethered to the trade itself, pointing support toward jewelry professionals who want to deepen their knowledge and raise their professionalism through education or training.

Henne Jewelers marked the launch with a special gathering on Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Pittsburgh, where the store showed an exhibition of Pugliese’s past and most recent jewelry designs. That focus on finished pieces matters. Pugliese was not only a merchant but a maker, and her career traced the path many young jewelers still hope to follow: from floor sales to design, buying and curation, with craftsmanship and integrity at the center.

The funding model is equally concrete. A portion of every sale from the Exclusively Nina collection will help support the scholarship, and the industry can also contribute through the Jewelers of America and MJSA donation page. Henne Jewelers says the effort is meant to support the next generation of jewelry professionals and keep Pugliese’s legacy alive in Pittsburgh and beyond. In an industry that often talks about heritage in broad strokes, this scholarship turns memory into a mechanism, linking one designer’s reputation for artistry and human connection to the education of the talent that follows.