Stephen K. Boss
University of Arkansas

“Dr. B” Patrick Albert Burkhart
Slippery Rock University

2025 GSA Distinguished Service Award

Throughout his career, Dr. Steve Boss has been a tireless advocate for the geosciences, working hard to help others succeed and seeking no credit in return. Steve is passionate about creating a culture in the geosciences that supports scholars from all backgrounds and defines the concept of Leading From Behind. He has worked with hundreds of On To the Future scholars, providing mentorship and networking, and has hosted over a dozen workshops at Connects and at Section Meetings. He has served on GSA Committees, been a co-convener, presenter, or panelist at more than 20 sessions since 2017, and is regularly involved in planning activities of the South-Central Section. Steve was selected as a GSA Fellow in 2021, recognizing his excellence in the field of Geosciences above and beyond the service he has rendered to GSA. Steve Boss is one of the kindest, most sincere, and honorable people I have ever had the pleasure of working with.

My sincerest thanks to Elizabeth Long for her nomination and citation. When I first learned that I was to receive this recognition, I looked up the previous recipients on the GSA website. Of those 69 awardees, I was astonished to discover that I knew and interacted in some way with 23 of them (1/3) over the course of my career. Their presence in my geoscience genealogy reminds me that science is a human endeavor, and no one succeeds in science without support and encouragement from many others. For the countless many of you who assisted me, be proud knowing that I stand before you today as the product of your efforts. I thank every one of you most humbly for the fellowship afforded me during the past 43 years. And finally, I thank the Geological Society of America. By providing service opportunities throughout my career, I know that I received the greater gift.

It is with great pleasure that I offer the citation for Patrick Burkhart for the 2025 Geological Society of America distinguished service award. That Pat is receiving this award should come as no surprise. Pat’s dedication to and love for the GSA has been a constant throughout his career. It would be difficult to overstate his contributions to our organization. By my count, he has led three joint section meetings and served four times on the technical program committee for the annual meeting. More than mere numbers is the style and grace he brought to the work. Not content to merely organize a meeting, he strives to create a meeting experience, to build excitement, to create memories. If that weren’t enough, he shares his accumulated wisdom with other aspiring organizers, encouraging a new generation of meeting planners. Pat loves the GSA, and today is our day to shower him with love. We salute you, Pat, for your commitment and contributions that have made our organization great.

In 1998, with another graduate student, we drove through the night from Lehigh to arrive in Boulder for the GSA national meeting. It was a huge adventure! I was hooked.

In 1990, I attended the Tectonics, Water, and Politics Field Trip associated with national meeting in San Diego. The group assembled in Reno and headed to Mono Lake. We followed the aqueduct along the Owens River, learning the story of William Mullholland and the acquisition of water rights by the LA Department of Water and Power. We passed the sight of the collapsed St. Francis Dam. Along with seeing these notorious landmarks, I met many illustrious hydrogeologists, including Paul Seaber and Jack Hess. The trip forged an inflection point in my career as a water scientist.

As Charles Darwin had gone geologizing with Adam Sedgewick, so too, adventurous discovery is now part of my itinerary at all meetings of the GSA. In turn, my career has been propelled by the GSA, its publications, bookstore, field programs, and more.
My friend is right; I love the GSA. I choose to support vigorous, impactful meetings to pay my gratitude forward for others to enjoy. The GSA has been the vault upon which I have propelled my career.

I thank Professor Paul Baldauf, another earnest member, for his thoughtful nomination. Congratulations to him on his election to Fellow, as well. Nicely done.