Letter from the Chair-Elect
It is an honor to be elected as Chairman-Elect of the House of Delegates. It is a position that will require leadership and a lot of work. In this column, I will review my primary objectives.
AAPG, in its new strategic plan, has as its “big audacious goal” to make AAPG indispensible to the ‘energy-related’ geoscientists. One of the key words in this goal is “indispensable.” A. I. Levorsen in his Geology of Petroleum textbook says “Imagination is an indispensable quality of the petroleum geoscientist.” Wallace Pratt is quoted as saying “one indispensable attribute of the oil finder is vision.” Using the wisdom of these AAPG icons, it follows that for AAPG to be indispensable requires that the leadership have vision and imagination.
My vision for the House of Delegates is for us to work in directions that will help and support AAPG achieve the “big audacious goal.” Imagination and vision along with mission, will move us towards achieving the goal. Agenda items that I have include the following:
- Set up an ad hoc committee to address areas of the strategic plan that the House of Delegates should or could be working on.
- I want to make sure all the House committees have fair representation from all the diversity within the House of Delegates.
- I want to increase the duties of both the House Nomination/ Election and Honors and Awards committees to the point where they provide names of people from the HoD to the Advisory Council who should be considered for AAPG officer positions and/or AAPG awards. The HoD has great leaders and you should be considered for AAPG awards and officer positions.
- Let’s start grooming our future leadership; Let’s encourage our regions and sections to get some of the younger geologists to run for election to the House of Delegates.
- I want to promote professionalism in AAPG, for example: let’s find ways to encourage professionals to become Active members in AAPG, new members, of course, but also Associates who are eligible for active membership; could there be a new incentive program we can establish? More active members means more support for the profession and more people involved in AAPG.
I am a second generation petroleum geologist and I have about 30 years of experience in the industry. Last August I joined as Professor of Geology in the Department of Geology at Colorado School of Mines where I hold the Charles Boettcher Distinguished Chair in Petroleum Geology. The petroleum geology profession has been very rewarding to me and I truly enjoy it. Now I get to teach petroleum geology to the new generation.
Can you imagine AAPG being indispensable to energy-related geoscientists? Imagination, vision, andmission are key ingredients to get us there. I want to help AAPG in becoming indispensable.
I look forward to serving as Chair-Elect and Chair of the House of Delegates. Please contact me at ssonnenb@mines.edu if you have an interest in becoming more involved in AAPG HoD activities.