PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE THE FUTURE OF AIPG?
Helen V. Hickman CPG-07535
hickmanhydro@att.net
This year has been a wonderful year for me as your
2016 President. I hope you have, or will, benefit from something I have contributed to AIPG this year. For me it has been the opportunity to work with wonderful, dedi- cated people and see some changes happen that will be positive for the organization.
The AIPG has some challenges. Our profile as an organization is not high enough in our industry to appeal to many potential members, so what can we do to improve it? Why should current members continue to be members? What will attract new members who have not considered membership yet? Members and potential members are looking to make it worth their membership dues to be a member. AIPG is unique among organizations for geoscientists because we primarily address the professional development of members, not so much the academic development of our pro- fessionals, although universities have students who go out into the world to become professionals and they need to know how to provide professional guid- ance to those students, and if they do not have those experiences, AIPG is the organization to bridge the gap.
The Executive Committee conducted a planning meeting at our Tucson meet- ing in February 2016. My purpose for organizing this activity was to ask the Executive Committee to think about what they wanted the future to look like and give the new Executive Director some guidance during his first few months in the position. Then we consciously chose to engage a new Executive Director who understood the issues and was ready to work on the solutions.
There are so many areas that are important to professionals, such as licen- sure, ethics, jobs, specific skills, profes- sional training and how legislation affects our ability to be financially successful professional geoscientists. Are we con- sulted at the state level if legislation that relates to our profession or our livelihood is discussed? I think not – and we have to work to change that. For example, last year there were efforts in some states to
de-regulate professional geologists. How important is a license, certification or registration to our profession? If we live in a state where licenses are required, it is important to our credibility as a profes- sional among other professionals (engi- neers, architects and surveyors, etc.), right? And if we do not have licensure in our state, the CPG provides profession- al credibility for specific organizations like the mining industry, for example. Our CPG meets requirements to make it an acceptable credential in Canada, Australia, Britain and Europe.
At out planning meeting, the Executive Committee are making an effort to raise our profile. This includes an improved website and more defined ‘brand.” On a national level we are very active with our sister societies across the world; we regu- larly meet with American Association of State Geologists (AASG), American State Boards of Geology (ASBOG), American Geosciences Institute (AGI), European Federation of Geologists (EFG), Geological Society of London (GSL), Geological Society of America (GSA), Geoscientists Canada and many others. Many state sections engage with their state legislature and members meet local legislators and let them know who we are and what we are involved in.
We looked at what we offer and how we could offer more benefits to our current members. We realized that in order to do more, we need more money to implement those ideas, so we need to look at ways to increase “non-dues revenue.” We can generate money from business-related activities that offer increased opportuni- ties to all our members as well as more opportunities to participate in activities of benefit to our members.
The bulk of our membership is older and many will be retiring over the next five to ten years. Does this mean our organization will decline or we can tran- sition that membership with the next generation of professional geoscientists? Can we pass on the information learned by our existing members to younger pro- fessional members? Do different things appeal to younger geologists and geo- scientists than our current members? Over the past 5 years, the student
population of AIPG has increased until it is approximately equal the number of CPGs. However, we are challenged to keep the student population engaged after they graduate and transition into a professional work environment. Are our graduates being successful in obtaining work as geologists after graduation? Our student sections and AIPG state sec- tions can work together to improve the chances of employment for graduating students by providing mentoring, intern- ships and the benefit of their networks.
Other ideas we have discussed include promoting and increasing AIPG section activities by highlighting the approaches of successful sections to provide inspira- tion and mentoring to less active sec- tions. Each section has its own unique issues, but many share common prob- lems that can often be resolved with com- munications between section officers.
The important thing for all members to remember is that you receive more out of participating in an organization than you contribute, so help to make AIPG’s future bright. Attend the 2017 National conference in Nashville, Tennessee next September 2017 to see what the organi- zation is becoming and how to improve your profession.
In conclusion, I would like to recog- nize the staff at the headquarters in Denver for all their support this year – our new Executive Director, Dr. Aaron Johnson, who I know will do a fine job in his new position; Wendy Davidson, the Assistant Director who keeps the organization on track; Cathy Duran who handles arrangements for all the confer- ences and meetings among other tasks; Dorothy Combs who has taken over the TPG publication and Member Services duties; Cristie Valero, our accounting staff, Mona Scott who takes care of other Administrative duties and our intern, Irene Kadel-Harder. I would like to offer many thanks to the 2016 Executive Committee, who are an outstanding and dedicated group of folks, to others who have been dedicated in their support to AIPG this year in particular, and best wishes to Adam Heft, who takes over the President’s duties in January 2017.
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