The Delegates' Voice
Newsletter for the House of Delegates of AAPG

June, 2000

I'm ready to join the Board of the House of Delegates and begin my duties as Chairman-Elect. I look forward to working with Lowell and Sandi to outline the HOD focus for the coming year. I hope to hear from you, the delegates, regarding what issues you feel should be addressed.

As I mentioned in my candidate speech, my personal suggestion to the Board is to focus on more delegate interaction with the AAPG membership. To begin with, there are three areas to concentrate on.

1. The first is new member recruitment. We all know some geologists (colleagues, students, recent graduates) who are not members of AAPG. I challenge you to lay the groundwork and bring two potential members to the attention of the Membership Committee.

2. The second is to recruit current AAPG members to participate on the AAPG's standing committees. I challenge you to recruit at least one new committee member this year. Active participation will help maintain interest in the organization, as well as make those participants feel welcome and appreciated.

3. Finally, we need to concentrate on delegate communication with the general membership of our organization. I challenge you to conduct a survey of five to ten or more AAPG members to find out exactly what courses, field trips, books, and special speakers they want and need AAPG to provide for them.

I anticipate positive results from your response to these three challenges I have issued to you. As current HOD Chairman John Hogg stated in the House of Delegates column in the May issue of the Explorer, remember, "involvement has (its) rewards."

I can be reached via e-mail at .

Respectfully submitted,

Ed Dolly

Letter from Incoming Secretary/Editor TOP

Dear Fellow Delegates;

Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your Secretary/Editor this coming year. I look forward to working with you towards a productive year for the House and the AAPG.

Summarizing my presentation at the meeting in New Orleans is easy - communications, communications, communications. The role of Secretary/Editor is to facilitate communications inside and outside the House. Besides our annual meeting, our main means is The Delegates' Voice, published every 3 to 4 months. Through the efforts of my predecessors, this excellent newsletter now offers an effective link among our delegates worldwide.

Because we are located worldwide, getting the Voice and other correspondence by mail often takes considerable time. This year we will focus on utilizing electronic communications to facilitate more and faster communications. The Voice will simultaneously be "snail" mailed as hardcopy and emailed in digital form (included in the email rather than as an attachment). Please visit the AAPG website (www.aapg.org) soon and verify your email address in the membership information. Contact Donna Riggs at AAPG Headquarters (, 1-800-364-2274) with any corrections. We will also use this system to email intermediate notices from our Chair Lowell Lischer or others.

Further, a new forum on the website will facilitate communications between the delegates and within the House committees. Messages posted in a forum allow anyone entering at any time to see the full discussion of a topic. Initially this site will be limited to delegates only, until we establish a working model. Then depending upon how the site develops, we can either open the forum to all AAPG members or establish a separate page for them that summarizes discussions. Watch for developments of this forum.

Another direction to look is outside the AAPG. I am investigating the feasibility of establishing links with corresponding bodies of our sister organizations, such as SEG, SPE, SPWLA, and others. Sharing experiences, membership concerns, and procedures can benefit both sides, providing new insights and possible solutions. I will report on my investigation in later issues.

I look forward to working on these and other issues for the House. And I anticipate hearing from you. Please send any information or articles for The Delegates' Voice in digital format to me ().

Sandi Barber

In this issue ...

Officers
> Chairman's Corner
> Chairman-elect
> Secretary/Editor

Reports:
> Southwest Section Meeting
> Constitution and Bylaws Committee
> Minutes: Annual Meeting 2000

Incoming Officers:
Chair-Elect:
> Edward D. Dolly
Secretary-Editor:
> Sandi M. Barber

Awards:
> Honorary Life Member - Patrick J.F. Gratton
> Distinguished Member of the House Award - Daniel L. Smith
> Distinguished Member of the House Award - Brenda K. Cunningham

Leadership