Committee Chairs
Constitution and Bylaws Committee
Three amendments were passed at the Houston ACE with the required 2/3 majority vote by the members of the House.
- A housekeeping measure to consistently use gender neutral language to refer to House and Committee “chairs”, and “committee members”.
- An extension of “Student” membership for two years after completing academic enrollment will allow graduates to acquire the appropriate experience qualifications and sponsor references for Active membership. The US$10 annual fee (US$20 overseas) will be paid by the graduate, and not be covered by any current student sponsorship programs. An amendment to the amendment was passed that will remove any distinction between “undergraduate” and “graduate” student members. According to AAPG Headquarters, only 1% of student members currently transition to active membership and this change will hopefully smooth the process of active membership application and acceptance.
- Restrictions to nominations for awards and candidacy for office by members or retiring members of the AC and EC have been clarified and (at AAPG legal counsel’s recommendation) made less restrictive. The one year moratorium regarding AAPG nominations and awards has been made less ambiguous. However, AC/EC members may now receive honors from the Technical Divisions (DPA, EMD, DEG), or be given best Paper or Poster awards (provided these be recommended by an independent technical nominations committee).
An amendment to include Technical Division certification (i.e. DPA) as a new membership class was approved by a majority of members, but nevertheless fell short of the 2/3’s mandate required to secure a bylaw change. And, an amendment to the amendment, urged by the DPA leadership to the C&BLC and HoD leadership, to create a hierarchy of membership classifications was rejected by a majority vote of the HoD after some healthy discussion.
I would like to give special thanks to my Vice Chair David Entzminger for his interactions with the DPA leadership and for assuring seamless progress of the committee through conference calls on those occasions when I was travelling in inaccessible time zones. And thanks also to committee members Edie Allison, Don Clarke, Steve Goolsby, John Hogg and Clint Moore for all their efforts over the last 12 months. Thanks also to David Hawk, Sandi Barber, Andrea Reynolds, Jeff Lund and Natasha Rigg who have given invaluable help and support in refining the amendments and creating an essential bridge between the HoD R&P committee, Membership and Young Professionals committees with whom we liaised closely.