A new named grant that honors two esteemed, long-time supporters of geoscience education has been established within the AAPG Foundation’s Deana and Paul Strunk Military Veterans Scholarship Program.
The AAPG Foundation trustees recently approved the creation of the Jack C. and Catherine I. Threet Named Grant, established within the MVSP, which will be awarded to military veterans pursuing an undergraduate degree in geoscience at a four-year accredited college or university.
The initial Threet Named Grant will be awarded later this year. Application’s for this year’s awards are open through May 1.
The Foundation’s MVSP was created to promote the advancement of student veterans in educational geoscience programs at the undergraduate level. Annual awards range from $2,000-$4,000.
Those eligible for the MVSP include active U.S. military service members (including National Guard and Reserve) and veteran members separated from active military service who have been honorably discharged and are entering or re-entering a post-secondary undergraduate or program in a field of geosciences.
Jack Threet
Jack Threet, an AAPG Honorary Member, has been an industry leader for more than a half-century as well as being highly honored by both AAPG and the AAPG Foundation.
Professionally, Threet began his career as a full-time junior stratigrapher for Shell Oil Company. His work eventually took him from the Autwine field in Oklahoma to the Netherlands, Canada and Australia, culminating in a position as Shell’s vice president and head of exploration in Houston. Threet headed Shell’s renaissance period of exploration success from 1978-87.
Following his retirement from Shell in 1987, Threet founded Threet Energy Inc., an oil and gas exploration management and consulting company. He went on to partner with four of his colleagues and fellow AAPG Members Jim Wood, Paul Dudley, Ray Burke and Larry Funkhouser (Sydney Powers Medalist, 2004), to co-found Enhanced Engineering and Multi-Technologies Company (EEMC).
His volunteer efforts and philanthropy for AAPG and the AAPG Foundation have been equally as impressive.
A decades-long supporter of AAPG and the AAPG Foundation, the Threets have been members of the AAPG Foundation Trustee Associate since 1987. Jack served as a trustee from 1994 to 2006, including five years as chairman.
Of special note, Threet and Funkhouser were co-chairs of the Foundation’s 2007 fund-raising campaign, which had an initial goal of $25 million. By January 2011 the campaign has exceeded that goal, raising $30 million in contributions.
And through it all, his strong personal initiative made him a natural for mentoring and leadership positions.
“Jack was a role model for a young generation of geoscientists a Shell,” said Chandler Wilhelm, a Foundation Trustee Associate and past president of the AAPG Division of Professional Affairs who now heads Wilhelm Geoscience Services in Houston. “His example of deep technical expertise, strong business acumen and leadership integrity served as an inspiration to me during the formative years of my career at Shell.
“I was fortunate to have been able to learn from his example.”
“He exemplified a culture that embraced both excellence in geoscience and the exploration business. He was a champion of both,” said Foundation Trustee Associate Scott Cameron. “He was a very effective recruiter for the Trustee Associates. Both he and Katy have been mainstays of the Foundation with generous support for its programs.”
Threet received the Robert H. Dott Memorial Award in 2003 for his work on AAPG Memoir 74 and was awarded AAPG’s Distinguished Service Award in 2005. He received the Foundation’s Chairman’s Award and, in 2011, the L. Austin Weeks Memorial Medal, the Foundation’s highest honor.
The Threets, married for more than 60 years, are avid philanthropists who contribute regularly to organizations such as the YMCA, Rotary International, Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Methodist Church, United Way and to other earth science-related foundations.
Also well known for his acumen on the golf course, Jack has been inducted into the Senior Golfers of America Hall of Fame. His biography appears in every edition of Marquis Who’s Who in America since 1985. He and Katy reside in Houston in the winter and spend summers in Pagosa Springs, Colo.
The MVSP
The MVSP supports education and career opportunities for veterans, aids in the transition to educational and civilian technical professions and promotes geoscience programs in higher education institutions.
A minimum of $50,000 is required to establish a named grant with the MVSP. If interested in establishing a named grant under the Deana and Paul Strunk Military Veterans Scholarship Program, or to learn more about MVSP, please visit foundation.aapg.org.