The Geological Society of America Foundation (GSAF)
announced Friday it has appointed Dr. Christopher Grant Maples as its next
president.
Maples replaces Dr. Jack Hess, who has been the
president of The Foundation since January 2015. Maples will join GSAF in July.
Maples earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at Indiana
University and his B.S. at West Georgia College. He has held senior leadership
positions at both geoscience centers (Department Chair, Geological Sciences,
Indiana University; executive vice president for research, Desert Research
Institute) and technology-focused universities (president, Oregon Institute of
Technology; interim chancellor, Missouri University of Science and Technology).
He also has served at the National Science
Foundation and the Kansas Geological Survey. In addition, he has some 16 years
of continual advanced leadership training at several prestigious institutions.
He is a GSA Fellow and a Fellow of the Paleontological Society.