PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE What are the Perks?


Matthew Rhoades, CPG-7837 rhoadesgeo1@gmail.com


There are a few perks that come with the role of serving as your 2022 President. One of those great perks is interact- ing with individual members and learning how they earn a living as a professional geologist. Far and away, however, the role I personally enjoy the most is being able to speak at the annual conference and hand out the national awards to very deserving recipients at the annual awards dinner. It is a wonderful opportunity to say nice things about hard- working individuals and their accomplishments. Interacting with capable, hard-working people who demonstrate a lot of personal initiative is a reward unto itself. I am always hop- ing that doses of that initiative will wear off onto me through some process like reverse osmosis. The awardees invariably come from every corner of our great country, and from every aspect of the geologic profession. I have learned so much from interacting with these individuals and our members at-large.


stodgy individuals. The same can be said for the AIPG, but perhaps with a twist. The AIPG is not the same ‘old boys club’ that it may have once been. There are many points to be made illustrating this theme. As I go into the fourth quarter of my 2022 Presidency, it occurs to me that a very capable, action- oriented lady will follow me as the 2023 President. In turn, she will be followed by our new female President-elect who will serve as the 2024 AIPG President. My 2021 Presidential predecessor was a hard charging lady, and we now have more than a handful of past Presidents that are female. Of the awards that I handed-out in Marquette earlier this month, the recipients were overwhelmingly female. Many of our current Executive Committee members are females. Every one of the individuals to hold the office of Early Career Professional (since program inception) has been female. This year, we had our first mother-daughter combination on the Executive Committee.


Matt and Kelsi Ustipak, ECP-242


Matt and Clint Noble, MEM-1938


Meeting new people has always been fun for me and meeting new geologists is especially so.


After nearly thirty years, I have attended many of these award dinners at both the State Section and National levels. The awards, and the individuals who receive those awards, provide quite a bit of insight into the AIPG-internal value system, the internal meritocracy. What I witnessed first-hand during the recent awards dinner in Marquette, Michigan made me reflect on all those awards dinners of the past.


The thought that came to my mind during this year’s award dinner was that our AIPG demographic is changing. It is changing very quickly and changing for the better. I am reminded of an old Buick television ad that used to shout, “this isn’t your parent’s Buick anymore”. Buick was working to deliberately shed its image as the auto of choice for older,


www.aipg.org


Matt and Elena Barth, SA-10534


The gender mix that we are currently experiencing is very much a positive thing. Geology has always been behind the curve relative to other sciences in academia. This is especially so since many undergraduate students do not encounter geol- ogy as an academic or professional pursuit until well into their time in a university setting. I have talked to many professional geologists who were initially pursuing some other type of sci- ence degree before they encountered their first geology class as an elective course while they were an undergrad. Many changed their majors after that initial geology class. As an organization and formally as an Institute, AIPG has a big tent, and we welcome all comers. Only through your own personal actions and examples, can we attract more members to AIPG. My very strong suggestion to each of you is that you spread the word about what is going on at AIPG and attract more talented, motivated people who are a lot like you.


Oct.Nov.Dec 2022 • TPG 37


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