UF Geological Sciences unveils wall of honor Saturday

The Outcrop of Honor occupies a wall in Williamson Hall and currently includes more than 70 different stones of varying colors and markings. The exhibit, organizers say, is as much a work of art as it is an honorarium.

Donors to the department choose their own stone from a color palette of stones that make up the display. A special bronze plaque with their chosen message will then be mounted on their stone. For a minimum contribution of $1,000, donors receive a 1-foot-by-1-foot stone with a brass plaque. Larger donations will be recognized with larger stones.

The unveiling will take place at a Homecoming Alumni and Friends Breakfast hosted today by the Department of Geological Sciences.

One of the department’s most generous benefactors, Jon L. Thompson, a retired president of ExxonMobil Exploration and an ExxonMobil Corporation vice president, and his wife, Beverly, will be recognized with a hand-selected, custom-cut stone to recognize his support over the years.

The Outcrop of Honor is the brainchild of Michael Perfit, a UF Research Foundation professor and department chairman, and Jack Ryals, director of Jackson Stoneworks.

Outcrops represent the exposures of bedrock that extend continuously for miles beneath the Earth’s surface, often in very ordinary settings.

“With budgets the way they are now, funding for expenses like vans for field trips and student lab equipment has been cut back by almost two-thirds, and we have to find other ways to support ourselves,” said Perfit, who has been a geological sciences faculty member for almost 30 years. “The need is especially great for funding academic enrichment, including the field trips our students must take outside Florida.”

Perfit said he looked into various fundraising approaches and really liked something he saw that involved engraving the names of donors onto brick pavers. Perfit said his students brought Jackson Stoneworks to his attention.

“Some of our students had gone (to Jackson Stoneworks) to get small samples of rock for use as coasters and as samples for classroom use, and that was the very first connection,” Perfit said.

Perfit later spoke with Ryals about the possibility of obtaining brick-sized pieces of stone for the exhibit. The project soon took on a much broader scope. “Jack kind of took the idea and he turned it into this entire wall,” he said.

“I looked at this as an opportunity to create something great,” Ryals said. “Something that would continue to raise funds for (the department) in the future as it expands to become a major exhibit.”

Ryals said he is enlisting the support of granite quarries from all over the world, asking them to donate 1-foot-by1-foot examples of each type of stone from their region.

With participation from enough quarries from around the world, Ryals said, the Outcrop of Honor could grow to encompass the walls of the entire second floor of Williamson Hall.

Perfit said he hopes to initially raise at least $25,000 to replace one of the aging vans used to transport students to the western U.S. during their annual six-week Field Camp, during which students learn to conduct field mapping and research.

To make a donation, call 392-2231 or visit UF’s Department of Geology website at www.geology.ufl.edu.