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The assisting of AAPG members facing career
transition issues was a major concern of attendees at the AAPG Leadership
Conference and of the AAPG Executive Committee, which met following the
gathering in early February.
The Executive Committee approved several
items to assist displaced geologists, including a special no-cost, two-day
Career Transition Workshop at the
upcoming AAPG annual meeting in San Antonio.
The Executive Committee also approved
in principle providing tuition-aid funds for the five Mid-Career Training
Centers AAPG and the AAPG Foundation already has supported with donations
of over $278,800.
AAPG funds will allow the Training
Centers to offer courses ranging from geologic software and workstation
use to general computer training at greatly reduced costs.
The Leadership Conference, formerly known
as AAPG Day, attracted 96 attendees from leadership positions in the association.
Concurrent breakout sessions focused on association activities concerning
career transition issues, member services, meeting 21st Century Report
goals, publications and inter-organizational coordination issues.
In a luncheon address, AAPG President
Richard S. Bishop spoke of growing technologies that are creating a commonality
of interest between disciplines and organizations. He urged the association
leadership to "develop an organizational structure in which the average
member finds it easy to create a multi-society product, such as a publication
or a conference."
He also noted that there is a high recognition
that inter-organizational cooperation "helps us all."
The Executive Committee, in addition
to approving an eighth concurrent session in San Antonio to accommodate
the special Career Transition Workshop, took action on a number of items,
with major actions including:
- Approved co-sponsorship with the Asociacion Mexicana
de Geologos Petroleros of an international conference Oct. 10-13 in
Veracruz, Mexico. The conference theme is "Revitalization of Mature
Exploratory Provinces," and the meeting will celebrate the 50th
anniversary of the AMGP (see March 99 EXPLORER story on page 38).
- Approved a policy statement concerning the Policy
on Tax Reform Issues. The policy statement appeared as a part of questionnaire
that appeared in the November 1998 EXPLORER. The statement on tax reform
issues basically states that the industry should be freed of onerous
taxation.
The November questionnaire inquired of the
membership the appropriateness of the association making statements
concerning tax issues.
The AAPG Ballot Committee reported that only
669 (2.23 percent) of the questionnaires that was sent out to about
30,000 members were returned. Those respondents, however, overwhelmingly
felt AAPG should have a policy on taxes, with 528 choosing "yes,"
124 choosing "no" and 17 abstaining.
- Approved the formation of a committee of AAPG leadership
to meet with the leadership of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists
and SEPM, to "identify areas of possible cooperation" and
to recommend specific actions, along with implementation plans to each
Executive Committee.
- Instructed the AAPG staff to prepare cost scenarios
for providing the BULLETIN on compact disks on a quarterly basis versus
regular printed copies.
- Approved recommendations from Barry Katz (Research
Committee), Jeffrey Yarus (Publications Committee) and Nahum Schneidermann
(Standing Technical Program Committee) concerning the manner abstracts
should be handled for the annual and international meetings.
The accepted proposal calls for a dual abstract
system to be instituted, in which each potential speaker would submit
a "standard," 250-word abstract in camera-ready form that
would be used for paper selection and program development. Following
acceptance of the paper, each presenter will be asked to submit an optional
extended abstract in electronic form, which would be published in electronic
format (CD or Internet).
No paper copies of the extended abstracts
would be published.
- Approved, with three abstentions, the endorsement
of the World Assessment Methodology used by the U.S. Geological Survey.
The final results of the assessment will be announced in June 2000.
- Set the registration fee at $350 for the AAPG conference
to be held July 11-14 in Istanbul, Turkey. (See March '99 EXPLORER story
on page 39.)
- Approved the awarding of the AAPG Certificate of
Merit to the late Leslie Escoffery, for his efforts to assist AAPG's
international efforts, especially in the conferences held in Caracas,
Venezuela, in 1993 and 1996.
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