CNYPE Q/A s
Q. Suppose I go to a conference sponsored by a professional organization
such as ASCE, IEEE, ASME, etc. Will I be able to get professional development
hours (PDH) from the technical presentations I attend?
A. Unless the national organizations have had their courses certified
in NY, PDHs earned there won't count for NY. Therefore, asking that question
of your professional organization would be appropriate. In addition, you as an
individual could send the information about the technical presentations and instructors to the Practicing Institute for Engineering
(PIE) to get the PDHs certified for NY.
Q. Can I get presentations and courses certified retroactively?
A. As the answer to question 1 implies, the answer is yes, but
recognize that the courses and presentations may not qualify for certification.
Q. Will education I take in NY qualify in other states that require
CPC? Will qualifying education I took in another state also qualify in NY?
A. Maybe. There are
24 states that require CPC now, or will in the near future. We'll put the list
on our web site. Every state has its own guidelines which precludes a definitive
answer here. NY requires CPC to be in a core engineering competency, ethics,
or law as it relates to engineering.
I want to highlight a few other points, which are in the documents on the web site.
* Licensees whose first registration date following January 1, 2004 occurs on or before December 31, 2004 are
exempt from the CPC requirement when they register. Such licensees will have
to take the full 36 hours of CPC prior to the next registration period. For example,
if you renew your registration on 7/1/04. No CPC is required. When you renew
on 7/1/07, you'll need 36 hours of CPC.
* Any licensed professional engineer whose first registration date following January 1, 2004 occurs less than
three years from that date, but on or after January 1, 2005, shall complete continuing education hours on a prorated basis
at the rate of one hour of acceptable continuing education per month for the period beginning January 1, 2004 up to the first
registration date thereafter. Such continuing education shall be completed during the period beginning January 1, 2004 and
ending before the first day of the new registration period or at the option of the licensee during any time in the previous
registration period.
For example, if you renew your registration on March 1, 2005, you'd be required to have 14 PDHs. Note the special rule (last sentence in previous paragraph) that applies to your first renewal if it occurs
between 1/1/05 and 12/31/06. Qualifying education obtained in your prior registration
period can be used to meet your CPC requirement. For this March 1, 2005 renewal,
the 14 PDHs could have been earned between March 1, 2002 and February 28, 2005. At
least that's my interpretation of the rule. I will try to confirm that this interpretation
is correct. This is an example of a case where it may be helpful to get courses
or presentations you've already taken certified.
* There are several approved providers of CPC. These include a
sponsor of continuing education that is approved by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET),
or the Practicing Institute of Engineering, or the American Institute of Architects Continuing Education System (AIA/CES),
or an equivalent organization determined by the department (NYSED) to meet NY standards.
Courses offered by ABET accredited colleges or universities, such as Syracuse University, can also qualify. Other sponsors can apply to the NY State Education Department to become approved to offer qualifying education.
For example, I had planned to offer an 8-hour course in 2002 about National Electrical Code requirements for
motor circuits. I got the course approved by IEEE for 0.8 continuing education
units, which equals 8 PDHs. Since IEEE is an approved IACET continuing education
provider I followed a procedure similar to PIE's by submitting a course outline, a description of the course content, and
my qualifications to teach the course. Through this process the course met the
NY requirements for PDHs since it was sponsored by an approved provider and the content was a core competency for electrical
engineers.
* Note that to qualify, both the provider and the course must be approved.
Courses in "soft skills" such as personal communications, leadership, general management, finance, human resources,
etc., even if offered by an approved provider such as Syracuse University, will most probably not qualify for PDHs in NY.
Your Chapter has established a committee that will develop programs of qualifying education in the near future. We hope to work with other technical and professional societies to make qualifying
education as widely available, inexpensive, and relevant (i.e., high quality and worth your time and money). In addition, there are many potential sources of qualifying education, including some vendor presentations
and "brown bag" classes. We'll be looking at all of this.
Mike Hayes, P.E.
(315) 455-2000
mhayes@cscos.com
