Sheila Cluggish Barnette earned her BA from SES in 1968 and worked for 35 years as an exploration micropaleontologist with Texaco, Cities Service, and BP before retiring in 2003. Contact: sheila@bnpr.com
"My most memorable experience as an SES student was the taphonomy experiment in Dr. Loren Babcock’s Historical Geology class. I do this activity with my students—it’s one of those learning moments you never forget because it changes how you look at the world."
Where has your degree taken you?
I have always worked in Houston, Texas, the heart of Gulf of Mexico oil exploration. Early on when I was working, the industry was booming and “headhunters” were always looking to find a better job for you. (also enriching them, of course). In my first years at BP, I designed, and shepherded through, the building of our first sample processing facility in Houston for the exploration group. I enjoyed being one of the few women at that time in oil industry micropaleontology, often “sitting” wells to pick casing points to avoid problems. I was Manager of Micropaleontology at BP in Houston for several years in the early 1990s, but I always preferred the technical work to managing staff. I got my wish, and In the last several years of my career, I was allowed to go back to doing technical/microscope work and mentoring new hires. Mentoring was one of most rewarding things I ever did. Answering probing questions about why things were done a certain way, made me a much better geologist by closely examining our procedures and changing things where new ideas were appropriate. I was named one of the first few Advisors/Senior Advisors on the technical ladder at BP, initiated during the late 1990s. I retired to the Texas Hill Country in 2003. I continued to consult for BP and had a microscope and sample logging software set up in my home office. I finally retired completely at the end of 2015.
How do you feel your experience in SES prepared you for your career?
At the time I graduated in 1968, oil companies were still hiring individuals with only a bachelor’s degree. My advisor, however, pointed out that attending Summer Field Camp might be the best thing I could do to add to my resume. (At the time it was not mandatory for receiving a Bachelor of Arts in geology.) I do believe that what I learned that summer made me a better candidate in my job search. I graduated from OSU in December of 1968 and was offered my first job, at Texaco, in April of 1969. I liked the idea that the geology department at OSU was relatively small in those years and individual attention was pretty easy to come by.
What is your favorite memory as a student?
Field camp in Utah. It made me stretch myself in ways I had not encountered before.
What advice do you have for current and future students?
Network! Network! Network! All of the jobs and advances I made in my career were because I became involved in professional societies, both local and national, and cultivated contacts and friends both within my company and with individuals in other companies. Who you know really does matter!