Experiences Of Engineering Technology Faculty In Professional Certification Programs

Professional certification is a widely accepted method for establishing credentials in one’s field. Certification is an industry driven process to establish a level of competency for employers and employees. Becoming certified generally consists of a minimum length of practice in the field of a technical discipline and earning a passing score on a written examination. These examinations are generated through a committee-based process comprised of experts in the area of certification, where the experts include a wide base of representatives from different aspects of the certified area. Typically, the committee contains industry professionals and very few, if any academics. While the absence of education-based members may be due to many factors, one contributor may be the lack of current industrial practice in most educational venues. Industrybased education programs, such as in engineering technology, are an often overlooked resource for professional certification. As academic contributors, the authors share their experiences serving on certification examination committees for two professional societies and how this is impacting their programs and students.