| Office | Name | |
|---|---|---|
| President | J. Foster Sawyer | |
| President-Elect | Mark Nelson | |
| Secretary/Treasurer | Gary Haag | |
| Past President | Tim Cowman | |
| Section Screening Chairman | Tom Durkin |
History of AIPG’s South Dakota Section
Eleven years after the founding of AIPG in 1963, 15 CPG’s (12 residing in North Dakota and three in South Dakota) petitioned AIPG Headquarters to form the “Dakota” Section. The three petitioners from South Dakota were John Paul Gries, John C. Mickelson, and Jack Kume. As a result of that petition, the Dakota Section and its bylaws were formally established in 1974 consisting of members from both states. The Dakota Section existed for 21 years until 1995 when the South Dakota Section was formally established and the two states became separate Sections. The South Dakota Section developed proposed bylaws in 1995, but they weren’t formally approved until 2010 after Section President John Foster Sawyer took the initiative to complete the process.
In 2004, the SD Section established the J. P. Gries Geologist of the Year Award in honor of longtime geology professor John Paul Gries of the SD School of Mines & Technology. The award is provided annually by the Section to a South Dakota geologist in recognition of exceptional work and service to the profession of geology at large, or in some recognized specialty within geology.
The SD Section holds an annual field trip during the summer for members and their families. This is always a fun event where we visit a geologically interesting area, learn about it, collect rocks, raffle an item of geologic significance, and, of course, eat!
South Dakota Section AIPG bylaws:
South Dakota Section AIPG 