• Benefits
• Volunteer Opportunities
• Jump In! and Volunteer!
• Volunteer Profiles
• Committee Descriptions
  • Executive
  • Education
  • Awards
  • Events - Social
  • Events - Technical Divisions
  • Communications
  • Student Outreach
  • Volunteer Management
• Resources

Volunteer Committee Descriptions

Communication Committee

The Communication Committee is an oversight committee that is chaired by the Communications Director and includes the chairs of CSPG committees that deal with communication issues. These member committees include New Publications, Publication Sales, Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, Reservoir, Calendar, Electronic Communications and Index of Publication. Additional committee members include the editor of any new major publication (e.g. a memoir) and the staff Communications Manager.

The main responsibilities of the Communication Committee are:

1. To ensure all communication projects and services are running smoothly;
2. to discuss and resolve any problems that are hindering effective communication;
3. to evaluate the technical and financial viability of proposed new publications and communication strategies; and
4. to brainstorm and foster new initiatives in communication.

Electronic Communications Committee

The CSPG Electronic Communications Committee is responsible for the initial design, implementation and management of the Society's website. The website maintenance and updates are managed by the Communications Manager in the CSPG Office. The committee is also responsible for designing and implementing digital access to the Society's past, present and future publications. The committee is currently comprised of one volunteer member of the Society, the Communications Manager from the CSPG office and the enthusiastic support and assistance of the Communications Director.

The Society's past hardcopy publications have been compiled and are currently being digitized through an agreement with AAPG Datapages. This agreement will allow members on-line access, key word searching and download capability from a majority of the Society's publications through a link on our CSPG website. This arrangement will also allow the Society to distribute current and future publications via CD-ROM.

Public Affairs Committee

The Public Affairs Committee (PAC) facilitates communication between the CSPG and its "public" which includes the general community, potential CSPG members among geoscientists and students, and of course current CSPG members. The PAC is a source of communication by distributing materials at public events, providing community support, and is actively involved in education outreach. Also, the PAC identifies educational opportunities for the Society as being the CSPG's representative on national Earth Science education bodies, such as the Canadian Geoscience Education Network.

The PAC supports other CSPG committees in providing materials such as trifold displays, brochures, portfolios, and posters for events sponsored and/or attended by the CSPG. It also attempts to ensure that the CSPG material has a consistent "look" so that the CSPG brand becomes recognized thereby enhancing the Society's profile.

Publication Index Committee

The Index Committee maintains a completely updated index to all publications of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists and its affiliated societies. This index has three components; namely, all publications sorted by author, NTS area and subject. Indexed material was published in 1977 in the SUBJECT  AUTHOR  NTS AREA INDEX and updates issued in 1984 and 1995. All CSPG papers are indexed and the terms then reviewed by all members of the Index Committee; the indexed data is then input to the computer database for retrieval by CSPG members.

Stratigraphic Nomenclature Committee

The Stratigraphic Nomenclature Committee is responsible for ensuring that all new formal stratigraphic nomenclature introduced in CSPG publications meets the requirements of the North American Stratigraphic Code for formalization. The chairman reviews any manuscript that introduces new nomenclature and, if necessary, asks one or more of the four other committee members for their opinion. A consensus opinion is reached and the authors and publication editor are informed on any required changes. Most years the committee evaluates only one or two publications.