Last month in Denver, in the historic halls of the Brown Palace, the AAPG Foundation Trustee Associates gathered for their 45th annual meeting, chaired by Valary Schulz, with Joe Davis serving as vice-chair and Dan Billman as secretary.
Individual donors are the lifeblood of the AAPG Foundation. This was recognized soon after the Foundation’s inception in 1967. As the story goes, the Trustees set an ambitious goal of raising $10 million, but two years later had managed to raise less than 2 percent of their target. However, they recognized that nearly 90 percent of the contributions received came from individuals. These were folks who cared about AAPG, geoscience and our profession.
Modeled after a similar group at California Institute of Technology, then Trustee Chairman Dean McGee suggested forming a community of these individuals, which would meet annually and provide input for Foundation activities and affairs, fostering engagement and motivation.
As captured on the Foundation’s website, “The Trustee Associates program would be designed to raise money to permit the Foundation to pursue its goals and objectives, to provide a form of recognition for those individuals who wish to provide substantial financial support, and to form an advisory body to give advice and counsel to the members of the Board of Trustees.”
Today, more than 250 Trustee Associates carry on this legacy.
Important Foundation Programs
The AAPG Foundation is a charitable organization that over its history has invested in promoting the geosciences in many different forms, all with a focus on benefiting the public and improving society.
Education programs play an important role in this, and the Foundation recognizes the importance of teachers. It awards annually a Teacher of the Year recognition to a U.S.-based primary or secondary school teacher who promotes and encourages kids to understand the Earth around them. Nominated by students and alumni, the Inspirational Geoscience Educator Award seeks to recognize university faculty who deliver that encouragement, which we all experienced at one point, to study geoscience.
Through the Grants-in-Aid graduate student research program and the L. Austin Weeks undergraduate scholarships, the AAPG Foundation furnishes college students today with the resources needed to pursue their studies.
A special program focused on U.S. military veterans was launched in the past decade with initial gifts from Deana and Paul Strunk. Available funding has grown, thanks to the generosity of additional donors, and each year the Military Veterans Scholarship Program, named in honor of the Strunks, delivers financial support to military veterans and their dependents studying geology.
The AAPG Foundation has long been a substantial supporter of the Imperial Barrel Award program, the global exploration competition. This program remains an important educational endeavor with more than 70 teams globally competing this past year.
More recently, the Foundation has supported the Sustainable Energy Development Competition organized by AAPG’s Sustainable Development Committee. With additional corporate support from Aramco, BP and Chevron, the awardees of this competition receive monetary prizes to begin implementing their projects. It’s intended to get young professionals focused on solving real problems and demonstrating ingenuity and innovation in action.
The Foundation provides annual support to the AAPG Bulletin and special publications. Its focus on disseminating science is also evident through the flagship Distinguished Lecturer program.
The Visiting Geoscientist program is another way that the Foundation supports outreach and direct engagement between working professionals and students.
In accomplishing its mission, cooperation and partnerships also play an important role. Since 2015, the Foundation has been a partner in the Society of Exploration Geophysicists and SEG Foundation’s Geoscientists Without Borders program, providing support for geoscience research projects that provide direct benefits to people in the developing world.
For even longer, the AAPG Foundation has partnered with the American Geosciences Institute’s Earth Science Week program, providing teachers with tool kits to engage their students and spark that curiosity about the world around them.
Current and Incoming Leaders
For more than 50 years, the Foundation has benefited from visionary and committed leaders. It’s my privilege to get work with them:
- Jim McGhay, chair
- Scott Cameron, vice chair
- Mike Wisda, secretary
- Valary Schulz, treasurer
- Mike Party, trustee
- Jeff Lund, trustee
As you read this, AAPG and the AAPG-F are beginning new fiscal years. On the Association side, we bid farewell to Steven Goolsby, Elvira Gomez, Jonathan Allen and Justin Vandenbrink who stepped off the executive committee on June 30.
Claudia Hackbarth takes over as president alongside Rebecca Dodge, vice president – sections, Ali Sloan, treasurer, and Matt Pranter, editor. We welcome Deborah Sacrey, president-elect, Sa’id Al-Hajri, vice president – regions, Sarah Barnes, secretary, and Robert Archer, chair of the house of delegates, as they join the executive committee.
A new fiscal year means it’s time to renew your AAPG membership. As you do, I’d like to encourage you to also consider making a gift to support the work of the AAPG Foundation – no matter how large or small.
Individual donors like you and me are building a strong foundation for the geosciences.