A few months ago the AAPG Foundation emailed AAPG student members, asking for their nominations for the 2013 Professorial Award.
Students stepped up to the task and nominated their best and brightest. We then notified the nominees and the applications began to come in.
It was quite an involved process, as professors were required to submit their philosophy and methods of teaching, a description of the unit and a letter of recommendation from an administrator. Their classes must include content that applies to the formation and geological history of natural resources; the scientific study of these resources; their origin, discovery and extraction, as well as their historical and present use.
Class content also should include the preservation of the environment; reclamation and the conservation of resources; and the use of earth science knowledge in decision-making.
The AAPG Academic Liaison Committee, chaired by John Holbrook, evaluated the applications and ultimately chose Jim Evans, professor of structural geology at Utah State University. His award check already has been mailed to him, and he will receive his plaque at the Rocky Mountain Section annual meeting in September.
Last year’s recipient was Grant Wach, professor of petroleum geoscience at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada. Wach was recognized at the Foundation “Chairman’s Reception” and at the Foundation exhibition booth at the AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition in Long Beach, Calif.
The cash award given for the Professorial Award is a mere $1,000 – and although the money is for their personal use, we’re finding that professors are putting it right back into their students’ activities.
One of our goals at the AAPG Foundation is to increase this award.
Please thoughtfully consider a gift today designated to the Foundation’s Professorial Award program. We’ll be delighted to share with you how the money is used to build a better foundation for the geosciences.
The 36th annual AAPG Foundation Trustee Associates meeting will be held Sept. 22-26 at the Suncadia Resort in Cle Elum, Wash. – and, of course, all 280 of the Trustee Associates are invited, along with a spouse/guest.
The TAs are among the Foundation’s largest supporters, contributing 66 percent of the Foundation’s total contributions.
Activities at the meeting will include three field trips, golf, fly fishing, hiking, a tour of the town of Roslyn (which provided the setting for the television program “Northern Exposure”), complete with lunch and beer tasting at the brewery, special dinners and of course, a business meeting or two with special speakers.
Waterfalls and wine are the key words for this year’s event.