The three-year requirement before a member can be considered for Active membership was changed to one year in a close vote of the AAPG House of Delegates at the Denver Annual Convention.
The debate centered on whether the three-year Active membership eligibility requirement provides an indication of professionalism and whether the time requirement was a stumbling block to Active membership.
The proposal garnered the required two-thirds majority by two votes. A motion for a no-membership-time requirement was voted down.
Another proposed bylaws change that required endorsers for Active members to know the applicants for at least one year also was voted down.
A section of the original motion passed that provides the Executive Committee may not waive the endorsement or professional experience requirements, which is now one year by the previous vote.
HoD Chairman George Bole presided over the meeting, with 197 certified as voting delegates. There are 225 total delegates in the HoD.
Other Business
Four items dealing with legal language “housekeeping” were approved, including a change clarifying that the Advisory Council will not recommend recipients for awards of a technical nature, such as the Matson Award for best paper at an annual meeting.
Delegates voted to return to committee consideration a proposal to provide studentmembership only to full-time students.
Withdrawn was a proposal to change the bylaws to include recipients of the Michel T. Halbouty Outstanding Leadership Award as Honorary members.
Delegates also discussed a concept for a new "Global Corporate Structure," with information provided by Marty Hewitt, chair of a special presidential committee that incorporated input from various committees that have studied the topic since the 2004 AAPG Strategic Plan.
AAPG President Scott Tinker told delegates that HoD consideration was another step “to move forward on a concept for a legal, governance and structure for AAPG to operate worldwide while protecting AAPG assets.”
The concept and voluminous background and explanatory material previously were sent to delegates, reported in the Delegates’ Voiceand available on the AAPG Web site.
Hewitt, past HoD chairman, said “a sense of the House” was being sought, with the intention of honing the concept by the HoD Constitution and Bylaws Committee, with a goal of a vote by delegates on a proposal at their 2010 meeting during the AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition in New Orleans.
Assuming HoD approval of that proposal, the measure would go to the AAPG membership for final ratification. If the timeline were met, implementation would be in 2011.
Following 26 minutes of discussion, the House voted to move on to other business.
House Elections, Awards
Delegates elected David Hawk, a Boise, Idaho, consultant and recently retired as director of energy natural resources for J.R. Simplot Co., as HoD chair-elect, and Laura Zahm, of the Bureau of Economic Geology, the University of Texas at Austin, as secretary/editor. Both will assume office on July 1, and Hawk will serve as HoD chairman in 2011-12.
House honorees included:
- Terry Hollrah, Oklahoma City – Honorary Member of the House.
- Susan Landon, Golden, Colo. – Distinguished Member of the House.
- Marilyn Taggi Cisar, Cypress, Texas – Long Service Award.
- Donald K. Murray, Lakewood, Colo. – Long Service Award.