Coming soon, perhaps to a city near you…the AAPG Foundation, up close and personal.
The Foundation recently initiated a series of Trustee Associate luncheons and joint AAPG/Foundation “Town Hall” meetings, built largely around the Foundation’s “Challenges – Assuring Success” campaign.
The new initiative was unveiled for Dallas/Ft. Worth-area Trustee Associates and guests at the Fort Worth Petroleum Club, an event hosted by Trustee Associate Jerry Namy. The luncheon featured a review of the Foundation programs and new developments by Rick Fritz, the AAPG Association’s Foundation and executive director.
That was quickly followed by a second forum and reception in Denver, where more than 250 Denver-area AAPG members and guests joined Fritz and AAPG President Scott Tinker for a review of Foundation and Association activities.
The Denver stop also included a luncheon for area Trustee Associates and guests, hosted by Foundation Trustee Bill Barrett and Trustee Associates Steve Sonnenberg and Ray Thomasson. Chairman Bill Fisher and Fritz were featured speakers.
In addition to answering members’ questions, providing information about Foundation programs and offering a “state of the Association” look at AAPG, the first town halls also included an unexpected bonus: AAPG members Lee Muncy of Ft. Worth and Michael S. Johnson of Denver, guests at the recent luncheons, enthusiastically joined the Trustee Associates, bringing the group’s membership to 267.
Preparations currently are being made for similar luncheons and/or town hall meetings in New Orleans, Lafayette, La., Houston and Roswell, N.M.
In addition to joining the Trustee Associates, Michael Johnson, who will receive the Outstanding Explorer Award at the upcoming AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition in Denver, has provided funding to AAPG’s popular Digital Products Fund- University Subscription Program to provide a subscription for his alma mater, Ohio State University.
A Digital Products University Subscription provides students and faculty at the designated university access to the entire AAPG digital collection. The University Subscription program, initiated in early 2005, now has funding for 50 designated universities.
For more information on how you can provide a subscription to your alma mater contact the Foundation office.
In other Foundation news, the Board of Trustees recently approved:
- $5,000 in funding for students and faculty travel expenses to the Hedberg Conference on “Variations in Fluvial-Deltaic and Coastal Reservoirs Deposited in Tropical Environments,” set April 29-May 2 in Jakarta.
- $12,500 to the Professional Women in Earth Sciences Committee for sponsorship of the 2010 Women’s Global Leadership Conference.
As a reminder, all AAPG members are encouraged to support the Foundation programs and join the “Assuring Success” campaign.
To learn more about the Foundation visit the Web site, where you’ll find downloadable PDF files of the investment policy, annual report and grant proposal guidelines.