The Stephen E. and Patricia S. Clabaugh Fund in Geology Research was established by the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System on February 13, 1981, for the benefit of the Jackson School of Geosciences. Gift funds were provided by Stephen E. Clabaugh, Ph.D. of Spicewood, Texas, a 1941 graduate of The University of Texas at Austin Jackson School of Geosciences and Mr. Howard R. Lowe of Houston, Texas, a 1948 graduate of The University of Texas at Austin Jackson School of Geosciences.

Stephen Clabaugh was born in Carthage, Texas to Edmund Cumberland Clabaugh and Cosette Hawthorn on April 2, 1918. He graduated from The University of Texas in Austin in 1940 with a degree in geology. He earned his MA from UT in 1941 and his PhD from Harvard in 1950. After working for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from 1942 to 1946, he began his teaching career at UT in 1947. In 1945 he married Patricia Sutton, a geologist working for the USGS in Washington, DC. They moved to Austin in 1947 and eventually had three daughters. Through the years, their sense of adventure and widespread family led them on many travels when they were not enjoying their home on the Pedernales arm of Lake Travis.

Clabaugh’s interests included gardening, growing vegetables as well as flowers, drawing and painting; he was an animal lover and an avid reader. He was, above all, a teacher and a storyteller and he loved to share his enthusiasm and interests with family and friends. He touched the lives of many people throughout his lifetime.

He taught at UT Austin for 33 years. He was the Fred M. Bullard Professor Emeritus in Geological Sciences. He taught physical geology, mineralogy and petrology, metamorphic petrology, and an elementary field geology course, among others. He received the UT Student’s Association Award for teaching excellence in 1957. In 1958, he received the Minnie Stevens Piper Award for “outstanding academic, scientific, and scholarly achievement and for dedication to the teaching profession.” He served as department chair from 1962 to 1966. In 1974 and again in 1978, he received UT’s Carolyn G. and G. Moses Knebel Distinguished Teaching Award. Through the years, he supervised an impressive 11 PhD students and 33 Master’s students.

Clabaugh was a member of the Geological Society of America for more than 50 years. In 1980, he was inducted into the Jackson School of Geosciences Hall of Distinction, which honors individuals who are strongly affiliated with the school and who achieve exceptional distinction and standing in industry, government and academia.

Predeceased by Patricia in 1997, Stephen Clabaugh died in December 2010.