By KATHY SHIRLEY
EXPLORER Correspondent

A Personal Touch

VGP Takes More Assertive Stance

Find more information on the Visiting Geologist Program -- including a list by region of this year’s participants or contact the AAPG education department.

For 28 years AAPG’s Visiting Geologist Program has sent members to colleges and universities around the world to tell, in their own words, what it means to be a geologist.

Never has that mission been more important than now.

"Geology is almost an orphaned science today," said Pat Gratton, AAPG president-elect and immediate past VGP chairman. "In high school, chemistry, physics and biology are generally the only science courses offered. Earth sciences might be offered at some high schools as a survey course, but most students’ only contact with the science is in the eighth grade, where it is taught as a unit of general science."

Many geology majors today were exposed to the science only through a family member or a friend’s parents who are involved in the profession, he said.

"This field has not had a proper parentage, and that provides us with both opportunities and handicaps," Gratton said. "The Visiting Geologist Program, in my book, is one of the biggest positives that tend to address the handicap by having practicing geologists visit with students about what it means to work in this profession.

"Over the years there have been a number of instances where young people were motivated to change their majors to geology as a result of a VGP visitor," he continued, "because a practicing geologist was able to impart the fascinating aspects of the profession."

Robert D. Cowdery plans to continue the program’s impressive tradition this year as chairman of the VGP Committee -- and he hopes to breathe a little more wind into its sails with a personal touch. He already has assembled the names and numbers of 180 colleges and universities, and he intends to personally call the department head of each school and then follow up with a copy of the VGP brochure.

"I think it is important that we be proactive in our efforts," Cowdery said. "We can no longer simply sit back and wait for people to call us. There is no doubt that the negative elements impacting our profession over the last few years are going to contribute to a future shortage of geoscientists, and we have to start proactively working to bring new blood into geology."

Reaching the Teachers

Cowdery, 1996-97 AAPG president, identified another serious issue that the VGP program can potentially address -- the lack of AAPG members within the faculty ranks.

"I did a quick look at the five degree granting institutions in my home state of Kansas and found that of the top 40 professors at those schools only 12 were AAPG members," he said.

Two schools had no members at all.

"The VGP is an opportunity for us to meet with the faculty and encourage their membership," he continued. "For years a good number of geology faculty around the country had been involved in the petroleum industry at one time, but that is no longer the case. We don’t have that 'friend at court’ anymore, and we need to consciously make more contact with faculty and show them the benefits of becoming members."

In addition to increasing faculty involvement, Cowdery hopes to expand the scope of the VGP to a growing segment of higher education.

"Community colleges are increasingly where students begin their college careers. What better time to tweak students’ interests in a variety of career choices?" he said, adding that smaller colleges often are the most interested in visits from practicing geologists.

"You may only speak to a few students, but if those students who are truly interested in hearing our stories, go into the field and further our profession, then we have done some good," he said.

Last year AAPG members made 58 visits to colleges and universities worldwide, down 30 percent from the average of the previous three years. The program was impacted by the travel restrictions associated with the Iraq war, global terrorism, economic recession, reduced governmental budgets and health threats such as SARS.

Visits within the United States were down 40 percent compared with the previous year and international visits were down 60 percent from the year before.

The biggest crowd for a visiting geologist was at the University of Oklahoma, where 140 students came out to hear then-AAPG president Dan Smith. Interest was high at various universities around the country, including Columbia University, Kent State University, the University of Idaho and the University of Tennessee.

Cowdery also wants to continue the effort to expand the VGP internationally. Currently 14 geologists are involved in the program on the international level, including professionals in Indonesia, Brunei, Pakistan, Australia, Abu Dhabi, Scotland, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago. These geologists made 21 visits last year in both the countries where they work and other locations.

Help Yourself

While every request for a VGP speaker has been successfully filled in recent years, both Gratton and Cowdery said additional members are needed to swell the ranks of the VGP both abroad and at home -- and it doesn’t have to be a tremendous commitment for any one person.

"Even if people would just commit to visiting the schools within their area it would be beneficial," Gratton said.

The current list of 88 VGP speakers include environmental geologists, researchers, oceanographers, U.S. Geological Survey and state survey geologists as well as petroleum industry professionals.

Geologists themselves get a great deal of satisfaction from their involvement in the VGP.

"I have a strong commitment to continuing education, and I get a terrific feeling by going to these colleges and universities and laying out what a career in geosciences can be," Cowdery said. "There’s nothing like helping the educational process."

Gratton agreed.

"The satisfaction that comes from visiting these schools and talking with young people about your career and seeing the motivation you can stir in them is very uplifting and a rewarding experience for geologists," he said. "The men and women active in the VGP are involved because they want to help the profession and they want to help the students. What they accidentally discover is that they are helping themselves."