5.26.23

From CPA to CFO to cook at Boxed Springs Archaeological Field School?

No, not exactly. But Marc Rowland ’75, a veteran oil and gas corporate executive, director and investment manager, is looking forward to sharing “home-cooked barbecue and steaks” with the next group of students to attend Wichita State’s Boxed Springs Archaeological Field School in East Texas.

Students who have enrolled in the 4-credit-hours field school, led by Crystal Dozier, an anthropological archaeologist and assistance professor at Wichita State, will be at the site from June 5 through July 1, when they’ll learn such archaeological methods as excavation, artifact identification and curation.

Located on land Rowland owns near the Sabine River, Boxed Springs is a Native American mound site with evidence of early Caddo occupation (800-1200 CE). Known since the 1950s, Boxed Springs contained at least four mounds, middens and a cemetery, but a series of sporadic avocational and professional investigations, as well as unfortunate looting, altered the site before Rowland purchased it.

“I’m not educated in archaeology or anthropology,” Rowland says, “but over the years, having visited the Four Corners area, where Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico meet, and owning property near Santa Fe and ranches in Oklahoma, well, one thing led to another and when the Boxed Springs site was made available, I bought it. I’ve made lots of surface finds at this particular Caddo site, which is part of a larger complex, and knew it could be a great education site — an educational resource.”

Interested in protecting and promoting understanding of the Boxed Springs site, Rowland reached out to Wichita State about investigating the property. A preliminary survey was conducted in September 2019 and the field school has grown out of that initial contact Rowland made with his alma mater.

He started out at Wichita State planning to study to become an aeronautical engineer. After switching career plans, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accountancy in 1975 and became a CPA that same year. His connections with WSU include serving on the WSUFAE’s National Advisory Council and supporting, on many different fronts, the Barton School of Business.

His extensive work history features founding IOG Capital LP, a private oil and gas investment firm; serving on numerous energy corporate boards, including SilverBow Resources Inc., and as an advisor at Energy Innovation Capital Management LLC; and holding many executive positions, notably as chairman for Canvas Energy, COO of Anglo-Suisse LP, CFO at Chesapeake Energy, CEO at FTS International, president and CFO for Frac Tech Services LLC and COO for Phibro Energy.

And, in just several days now, Rowland will start up another stint of cooking for the students at the Boxed Springs Archaeological Field School.