When Marathon Oil Corporation, one of the world’s leading oil companies, wanted to support research and teaching excellence in earth science and petroleum-focused geology, the company looked to Montana State University.

MSU might not have been such an obvious choice if it weren’t for Mike Gardner, Dave Lageson, Dave Bowen and Jim Schmitt, who together present one of the most powerful research teams in sedimentary geology in the United States.

Gardner re-introduced Marathon representatives to MSU, and together with Bowen, and Schmitt, approached Marathon with the outright question of “What can MSU do for you?”  Seeing the strategic advantage of having a powerful research team and the innovative energy of a university at their service, Marathon took MSU up on its offer.

With a generous gift of $125,000, Marathon has initiated a long-term partnership between Marathon Oil Corporation and MSU that promotes the research and educational objectives of both organizations in petroleum-focused disciplines in geology.  Initial funding created the Marathon Oil Field Trip Fund to provide a resource to support geology student field trips; the Marathon Oil Company Endowed Scholarship to provide graduate scholarships or fellowships to worthy students, and Marathon Oil Geological Sciences Support to provide for student activities and professional associations.  

Long recognized as a pacesetter in creating sustainable value growth through innovative energy solutions and unique partnerships, Marathon has partnered with Montana State to create a visionary program that encompasses research, education, recruiting and training, taking Marathon beyond a conventional integrated oil business.  Many MSU graduates have gone on to careers with Marathon.   As Randy McQueen, Marathon’s Worldwide Geosciences Manager, puts it, “Our involvement with key schools helps us to build the ‘bench strength’ needed – to build the future of our organization.”
McQueen adds, “These partnerships create value for both Montana State University and Marathon. We provide meaningful work experiences for students and MSU provides us with new paradigms for solving our sedimentary geology and petroleum exploration and production problems. We are confident in hiring MSU graduates because we know they bring tremendous technical competencies to our company and integrity that is critical in today’s corporate environment.”   

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Marathon is among the leading energy industry players, applying innovative technologies to discover valuable energy resources and deliver the highest quality products to the marketplace.  Marathon seeks to find and hire talented students who thrive in an environment full of challenges and professional development prospects and to that end, they are actively working with the students and participating in courses at Montana State University.