Last year proved to be a banner year for the AAPG Foundation, as nearly $3 million was received in financial gifts.
That makes 2012 the second highest year of support in Foundation history, behind only the giving total for 2005 – when the Foundation received a $10 million bequest from the late L. Austin Weeks.
Programs that saw the biggest jump in funding included the General Fund; the James Hartman Student Leadership Program; the OSU-GIS Consortium; Grants-In-Aid; the Imperial Barrel Award; and the Education Fund.
Clearly, your donations are helping us reach the next generation of geologists in so many exciting ways.
A current focus of the AAPG Foundation’s fundraising efforts is the L. Austin Weeks Undergraduate Grant program, which supports educational expenses of undergraduate geoscience students and the departments of their school or university.
The Foundation annually can support approximately 67 grants through the program. Each $1,000 grant is split in half between a qualified student involved in an AAPG Student Chapter and the university he/she attends.
AAPG has more than 300 student chapters who could desperately use additional funding – and with an additional $6 million, the Foundation could provide annual grants to each active student chapter.
Contact the Foundation for information on how to contribute to this initiative.
Three new members have been announced for the AAPG Foundation Trustee Associates. They are:
♦ Richard K. “Dick” Stoneburner, president of the North America shale production division for BHP Billiton Petroleum, Houston, and a current AAPG Distinguished Lecturer (see related story, page 4). His contributions are directed to the General Fund and to the Roger W. Stoneburner Memorial Grant, which funds a graduate student Grant-In-Aid.
♦ John Robinson, of Littleton, Colo., an AAPG Distinguished Service Award and Wallace E. Pratt Memorial Award winner. His contributions have been directed to the General Fund.
♦ Valary Schulz West, with Cinco Resources in Dallas, a former chair of the AAPG House of Delegates and winner of several AAPG honors, including the Distinguished Service Award. Her contributions are supporting the General Fund and also will be used to start a Digital Products University Subscription for the University of Saskatchewan.
Finally, it’s been announced that this year’s Michel T. Halbouty Lecture, featured annually at the AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, will be presented by Jeff Ventura, president and CEO of Range Resources, who will talk on “Range’s Path to Discovery and Commercialization of the Marcellus Shale – the Largest Producing Gas Field in the United States.”
The Halbouty Lecture will be held May 20 during the AAPG ACE in Pittsburgh.
Funding for this lecture is provided by the AAPG Foundation.
Watch the EXPLORER for more details on Ventura and his talk.