News Release, Kansas Geological Survey, Aug. 29, 2001
Survey Director Lee Allison and Larry Skelton, who heads the survey's Wichita operations, will receive the awards in March 2002 at the AAPG annual meeting in Houston. The AAPG, based in Tulsa, Okla., is an international scientific organization with more than 31,000 members.
The service awards are given to AAPG members whose "public service is above and beyond the framework of that person's normal job responsibility," according to AAPG guidelines.
Allison was visible after the Kansas Board of Education voted to remove a requirement that students be tested for their knowledge of the principles of evolution. The vote was reversed earlier this year.
Allison worked to convince the board that the subject should not be excluded from public school programs. Skelton has been active for several years in earth science outreach programs for schools, church groups and scouting activities in Wichita.