Holland named Shellebarger professor in Geology

Steven Holland, paleobiologist and expert in stratigraphy, has been selected as the Shellebarger Professor in Geology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. The professorship is supported by a gift from Sydney (BSHE ’79) and Jeff (BS ’78, MS ’80) Shellebarger, former president of Chevron’s North American exploration and production operations. Jeff Shellebarger currently serves on the executive committee of the UGA Geology Alumni Board.

Holland's research on paleobiology and stratigraphy, the study of sedimentary rocks, focuses on using recent advances in interpreting the stratigraphic record for evaluating how the fossil record is assembled and how it can be interpreted.

Past president of the Paleontological Society, Holland is professor and graduate coordinator in the department of geology. Principal advisor for 35 M.S. and Ph.D. students, 20 undergraduate research projects, and 2 postdoctoral fellows, Holland has been on the faculty at UGA since 1991. He co-developed the Stratigraphic Paleobiology Field Conference, an international field conference for training paleontological graduate students in stratigraphic methods, and has co-authored over 115 scientific papers, with over 7000 citations.

"I am honored to receive the Shellebarger Professorship for its recognition of my contributions to the University of Georgia and to the science of geology," Holland said. "It is particularly meaningful because Jeff Shellebarger is one of our most distinguished alumni, had an influential career in energy, and has enthusiastically supported our department philanthropically."

Jeff and Sydney Shellebarger met at the University of Georgia in the late 1970s. They dated throughout college, and even after leaving UGA more than 35 years ago, the couple remain friends with many of their peers. They strengthened their ties to the university by endowing the Shellebarger Professorship in Geology—the first professorship for the department. Holland is the professorship's second recipient.

After graduation, Jeff and Sydney embarked on a global journey that followed Jeff’s career with energy company Chevron across the United States, Africa and finally, Indonesia. Sydney’s first job at the College of Family and Consumer Sciences’ McPhaul Center in Athens led her to advocate for children wherever the couple traveled.

"The professorship will support the ongoing research in my lab where we apply modern principles of stratigraphy — many of which were developed in the energy sector — to a reinterpretation of the fossil record," Holland said. "These studies have helped to show how the fossil record can be better used to understand evolutionary relationships and how life on Earth has responded to mass extinction and climate change in the past. I'll use the stipend to support the field seasons and data collection needed by my students and me, particularly as we embark on poorly studied nonmarine systems.

Image: Steven Holland