SM Energy Company was founded as St. Mary Parish Land Company in 1908, and through the years it became a successful company through a strategic focus on exploration, development, acquisition, and production of natural gas and crude oil in five core areas of the United States. In 1992, the firm changed its name to St. Mary Land and Exploration Company and became a publicly traded company, and it was renamed SM Energy Company in 2010.

The late Paul M. Veatch, senior vice president & regional manager of SM Energy’s Mid-Continent Region, was the driving force behind the establishment of the SM Energy Provost Scholarship in Petroleum Engineering at TU. Veatch, who was based in the Tulsa office, wished to fulfill his company’s philanthropic philosophy of supporting educational, humanitarian, and cultural organizations in the communities from which SM Energy recruited its employees.

Mr. Veatch joined the company in April 2001 as regional acquisition and divestiture engineer of the ArkLaTex region. He was manager of engineering from April 2003 to August 2004 and vice president and general manager of ArkLaTex from August 2004 to March 2006, when he was appointed senior vice president and regional manager of the Mid-Continent Region. Born March 8, 1966, Veatch passed away November 24, 2012, after a battle with cancer.

The SM Energy Provost Scholarship in Petroleum Engineering will provide financial support to aspiring petroleum engineers at The University of Tulsa for generations to come. The University of Tulsa family is grateful for SM Energy Company’s generous partnership.