Annual Report 2012: FY July 1, 2011-June 30, 2012
Ethics Committee
The Ethics Committee is charged with investigating and prosecution of charges of misconduct by AAPG members who are in violation of the AAPG Code of Ethics. Charges of misconduct in violation of the code of ethics (Article IV) of the AAPG Constitution must first be submitted in writing to the Executive Director at Association headquarters with a statement of the evidence on which the charges are based. The Executive Director submits the charges to the Ethics Committee of the Association which is a standing committee and which consists of five (5) members of the Division of Professional Affairs. The AAPG Executive Committee appoints the members of the committee for staggered three (3) year terms.
The Ethics Committee may conduct an investigation to reasonably and thoroughly investigate the charges. If in the judgment of the Ethics Committee and after consultation with AAPG legal counsel, the evidence supports further action by the Association on the charges, the committee prepares and files with the Advisory Council at Association headquarters formal charges against the accused member. Upon such filing the Chairman of the Advisory Council appoints a Hearing Body from the Advisory Council members and the Ethics Committee appoints one of its members as the prosecutor. The grievance procedures are described in the AAPG Bylaws. The existence of allegations against any member, and the basis and content thereof, is confidential.
The Ethics Committee is also charged with locating and designating a Distinguished Lecturer on Ethics with that person being part of the AAPG's Distinguished Lecturer Program. The Committee shall biennially place in nomination one (1) or more persons who would be willing to provide lectures on the topic of professional ethics and select, by a simple majority committee vote, one (1) person to serve in that capacity.
The Ethics Committee did not have any complaints of ethics violations brought before the Committee in 2012. As a society, we should be pleased with this lack of activity required by this committee. Our current Distinguished Ethics Lecturer, Rusty Riese (retired BP and adjunct professor at Rice University), has completed a very active year on tour presenting his lecture "Oil Spills, Ethics, and Society" over 30 times. He has spoken in front of a diverse group of organizations including ACE in Long Beach, several sectional, regional, and local affiliated societies as well as universities and various non-geoscience groups. His 2013 schedule looks equally ambitious.
I want to thank my 2010-2011 Committee members Michael Fogarty, Norman Hyne, and Robbie Gries, as well as the EC Liaison Stuart Harker, the committee manager Terry O'Hare and Staff Liaison David Curtiss. Our committee of three is very well managed, with these three liaisons!
Bob Countryman, Chair
Committee members: Robert Loren Countryman (chair), Michael Alan Fogarty, Robbie Rice Gries, and Norman John Hyne