Penny Colton - 2015
CSEG Honorary Membership Award Recipient Penny Colton
Citation by Paul Anderson
For remarkable, lengthy and selfless contributions to CSEG activities, geoscience history and technical excellence.
Penny has been a tireless volunteer for the CSEG over most of her career. My first exposure to the CSEG occurred, like many of the young geoscientists that have come across Penny’s path, through Penny’s encouragement to volunteer with the society. She sees the opportunity the CSEG provided to young geoscientists to network with other professionals and encouraged them to not only join the society, but to also engage with the CSEG’s many committees’ and programs. While I can only speak to the past 18 years, I cannot think of a single year that Penny has not introduced a recent graduate or transplant to the local industry to the society and individual members within the society. As such she has been a tremendous asset to the CSEG in attracting and retaining members over the many cycles our industry has endured.
Penny filled in as Co-Editor for the 1989 CSEG-CSPG Convention “Exploration Update” abstracts (240 pages), and later served on CSEG Executive as Treasurer in 1997. She was acting Director of Educational Services when Luncheons moved to the Telus Convention Centre in fall of 2002, for the first DoodleTrain, and later for the start of Lunchbox Geophysics. As “VP of Luncheons” in 2003, she started digital recordings with Rob Stewart’s “Mars in Canada” webcast in May 2003. Aware of the advantages of digital photography, a DSLR followed her home to replace her older SLR, and she easily thanked visiting SEG speakers with photos of the huge CSEG luncheon audiences.
Subsequently, Penny has volunteered countless hours as a photographer for the CSEG, capturing thousands of pictures of CSEG Technical Luncheons, workshops and courses, many of which have been used in the RECORDER and other publications. This time as a volunteer photographer for the CSEG has also fed into Penny’s extensive assistance and support, both informally and formally with The RECORDER Editorial Committee to ensure the RECORDER is a great publication. It is for these reasons I am pleased to recommend Penny Colton for Honorary Membership to the CSEG.
