Elevating AAPG's Women's Network from a SIG to a Division

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.

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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.

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