Annual Report 2012: FY July 1, 2011-June 30, 2012
House of Delegates
The theme of 2011-12 was to have the House of Delegates take a leadership role in achieving goals I set at the beginning of the year:
- “Energizing” AAPG Delegates to become proactively involved as communicators to their affiliated societies, sections and international regions, and to step up recruitment of new AAPG members by helping to form and join Valary Schultz’s “army” of recruiters.
- Continue efforts to make the AAPG Membership “scheme” and application process “more welcoming” for the applicant and efficient for both the applicant and the Association. Let’s be “inclusive” not “exclusive.”
This year we continued efforts to carry on the pattern of recent past membership actions within AAPG in cooperation among the House of Delegates, the Executive Committee and the AAPG Membership Committee which has included adopting the graduated dues policy, the membership qualification experience requirement change to one year, the student bridge policy to encourage students to remain involved in AAPG while they begin their careers, EC process changes endorsed in August, 2011 and the EC resolution supporting the “membership simplification” bylaws proposal.
Perhaps the most tangible results from our efforts this year was the Bylaws amendment described below and the recent issuing of a “Delegates Guidebook” to help make the responsibilities and duties of Delegates clearer and somewhat more consistent globally. Of special note has been the work of Houston Delegate Sharie Sartain, who has chaired an ad hoc committee to create this first Delegate’s Guidebook.
This year the HoD Leadership mid-year meeting was held in Houston. Your officers and committee chairs worked diligently to present their business and discuss AAPG processes and potential improvements.
I would like to acknowledge the important work done by our Executive Director David Curtiss and the Headquarters’ staff who organize and maintain the efforts of our membership and the House of Delegates in every way.
The highlight and culmination of our year was the 42nd Annual Meeting of the House of Delegates called to order in Long Beach on April 22, 2012.
Key events at the meeting included the following.
Report of the Honors and Awards Committee
Laura Zahm, chair of the Honors and Awards Committee recognized the members and announced the following House award recipients for the year 2012:
Honorary Member of the House Award
Larry Jones
Distinguished Member of the House Award
George Eynon, Jeannie Fisher Mallick and Vlasta Dvorakova
House Long Service Award
Ed Dolly and Clint Moore
Recognition of Service Award
Jeff Lund and David Cook
Certificates of Service
Report of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee
David Entzminger, chair of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee, proposed several amendments to the AAPG Bylaws with the following results.
A motion was made to provide for recommendations by the Advisory Council to the Executive Committee which involve long-range planning and possible amendments to the AAPG Constitution and/or Bylaws to also be forwarded to the chair of the House of Delegates for submission to the members of the House of Delegates for their review and comment to the Executive Committee. This motion failed.
A motion was made to provide for the term “Active Members” to be replaced by the term “Members” and to provide for the term “Members” to include those Members designated as Emeritus Members and/or Honorary Members. This motion carried.
Report of the Nomination and Election Committee
Sigrunn Johnsen, chair of the Nomination and Election Committee presented nominees for officers of the House and the election was conducted. The results of the election for the 2012-13 House officers were Larry Wickstrom, as chair-elect and Karen Glaser as Secretary/Editor.
Report of the Resolutions Committee
Dennis Moore, chair of the Resolutions Committee reported the Miami Geological Society has voluntarily chosen to disassociate with AAPG and the members have been reassigned to the Southeastern Geological Society. He made a motion to accept three new affiliated societies as follows:
- Israel Geological Society (IGS)
- Indian Association of Petroleum Geoscientists (IAPG)
- Geological Society of Romania (SGR)
And to assign the Israel Geological Society to the European Region.
The House approved the motion.
I want to thank all AAPG Delegates and especially the leadership team of chair-elect Randy Ray, Secretary Editor Dave Cook and the House Committee chairs for all their hard work and sincere commitment this year. We concluded the annual meeting with the traditional hand-off from the current chair to the incoming chair and Randy Ray now proudly has control of the official House necktie and gavel.
It has been my privilege to serve.