Over the Past year, the AAPG Women’s
Network has been working on a
proposal to move the AAPGWN from
a special interest group to a new technical
division of AAPG. The previous co-chair of
AAPGWN, Terra George posted an article on
LinkedIn which brought attention to the need
for a formal transition to a division.
She posted “An Open Letter to AAPG”
(LinkedIn.com/pulse/open-letter-aapg-terrageorge/)
on May 5, 2020 and it has since
received 453 reactions, 87 comments, 28
reshares and more than 5,000 views. Since
Terra’s letter has been posted, AAPGWN
has engaged in many activities to serve
the greater energy geoscience community
in an effort to accelerate culture change
within the AAPG. Only now, because of
Terra’s candid letter to AAPG’s leadership,
along with the tremendous effort from the
AAPGWN leadership and volunteer base,
does AAPGWN have enough momentum and
leadership to strive for division status.
According to Article VIII, Section 4 of
the AAPG bylaws, upon recommendation
of the Executive Committee, new technical
divisions of AAPG can be established by a
two-thirds vote of the House of Delegates
at its annual meeting. The AAPGWN
has secured the recommendation of the
Executive Committee and the Advisory
Council but now requires a two-thirds vote
of the House of Delegates, which will take
place on May 23, 2021.
Women’s Network Programs and Projects
The AAPGWN, formerly PROWESS,
has a long history of enhancing AAPG
programming through events at the
Annual Convention and Exhibition and the
International Conference and Exhibition.
The AAPGWN made huge strides in offering
online programming during the COVID-19
pandemic. In 2020 alone, our dedicated
leadership team volunteered more than
6,000 hours to provide opportunities for the
technical and professional development
of AAPG members. We hosted more
than a dozen online events, including
technical sessions at ACE and professional
development webinars, and developed a
formal mentoring program, started a funded
research consortium and had our first
publication about gender and diversity equity
accepted in AAPG’s Bulletin Geohorizons
volume (which is the first of its kind for
AAPG). In addition to these initiatives, we
have built a thriving social community,
the impact of which upon the geoscience
community is harder to quantify or measure.
We have also seen many women grow and
develop their leadership skills, and we hope
our efforts will continue to reach and support
all the members within AAPG’s organization.
In 2020, we were also recognized by
Experience Energy/ALLY by Pink Petro as a
GRIT Awards Team/Affinity Group Winner for
our efforts to enhance diversity and inclusion
in the energy industry.
Here is what some of our participants
have to say about our programs:
“Today’s AAPGWN lunchtime talk
was presented by Katie Smye, Isabelle
Pelletier and Elizabeth Horne, each of
whom discussed some excellent research
they are in the process of putting together
investigating induced faults in the Delaware
Basin. This is a subject that I had heard
about in passing, but mostly in other basins
and not here. I never knew that the problem
was so critical, nor the need for this kind
of project and the extensive amount of
information gathering required to put a study
like this together. It was amazing to see
just how much information they gathered
on the subject. The project is still ongoing,
and I am excited to see where they take this
basin-wide interpretation in the future. They
are just scratching the surface of where this
study can go when it comes to overpressure,
maximum stress and even fracture
stimulation in the future. Thanks for such an
enlightening discussion,” said Nick Nelson.
“Great matching done by the AAPGWN of
the mentor-mentee constellation in my case;
the mentorship agreement and other tools
(goal tracking, planner, help resources, etc.)
are very useful and keep progress tangible
(which is both motivating and rewarding; it
aids in keeping track not only of the defined
goals but also to re-assess on a regular
basis the mentoring relationship, one’s
engagement, etc.); my mentor is great and I
cannot stress enough how much I gain from
this program personally and professionally
(and I hope he does, too!),” said Laura Bührig.
“The Women’s Network mentoring
program gave me the opportunity to hone
my mentoring skills and learn from one of
AAPG’s shining stars, Autumn Haagsma. The
program helped me research and consider
carefully the advice I offered. I say it’s a big
win and thank the organizers for so many
hours of effort to achieve this success,” said
Gretchen Gillis.
“AAPG Women’s Network has been
instrumental in providing support for women
like myself to achieve new heights in industry.
It has helped provide knowledge I need
and encouraged me to aide my passion of
pushing the industry forward, to deliver data
that optimizes reservoir understanding and
financial stewardship of E&P companies
while helping me support other women and
men in their own innovative ideas along the
way,” said Faye Liu.
AAPGWN’s leadership has spent many
long Zoom meetings after our day-time jobs
organizing and planning how we will continue
to elevate and support women and minorities
longterm through AAPG’s organization. We
sincerely thank all of the AAPG members
who have supported us on our journey
and those who directly volunteer for the
AAPGWN-related activities. What we do and
plan to do in the future would not be possible
without the support of our advocates and
volunteers.
If you have any questions about our
division proposal or wish to help support
us in this effort, email us at . Become a member today at
https://www.aapg.org/womens-network. Visit our new
YouTube channel (search for “AAPG Women’s
Network”) for access to our webinars.