The Civil Engineer School Continuing Education Units (CEU)

The Civil Engineer School (CES) strives to provide quality Professional Continuing Education (PCE) to Air Force and Department of Defense personnel.  In addition to receiving quality education to help increase job performance, Civil Engineer School students may be able to use courses to obtain college credit or meet the Continuing Professional Competency requirements of state licensing boards. 

The Air Force Institute of Technology is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association.  In addition, CES follows strict Air Force education guidelines when developing and offering courses.  As such, CES is able to award Continuing Education Units (CEUs) to students who satisfactorily complete courses (CEUs are not currently awarded for seminars).  These CEUs can, in some cases, be used for college credit and Continuing Professional Competency (CPC) requirements as outlined below. 

College Credit
CES awarded CEUs can be accepted by some colleges and universities as credit toward graduation requirements.  Students should contact the college or university registrar to determine if CES CEUs are accepted by the school for credit.  If appropriate, the college or university will instruct the student on procedures for obtaining credit.  Typically, the college or university will require an official transcript from CES listing completed courses and the number of CEUs awarded.  A student’s official transcript can be requested by contacting the CES registrar via e-mail or by phone 937.255.5654 ext 3582. 

Continuing Professional Competency (CPC)
Many state licensing boards require individuals who wish to renew their state issued professional license (such as P.E. or R.A) to demonstrate a continuing level of professional development/competency.  These states require that their licensees obtain a certain number of credits per year to renew their license. CPC credit can be obtained from many different sources, such as completing a college course from an ABET accredited institute, attending a technical seminar/PCE course, publishing papers, obtaining a patent, etc.  The National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) and most states use the Professional Development Hour (PDH) as the common denominator for CPC credit, Table 1 lists the NCEES recommended unit conversion to PDHs.  As a provider of PCE, CESS courses and awarded CEUs may be acceptable in some states to meet these CPC requirements.  It MUST be noted that each state’s licensing board has the ultimate decision making authority to accept or reject CPC activities or CEUs.  

Table 1. NCEES recommended unit conversion to PDH

Taken from National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Survey, Model Rules, August 2004

 

Students who wish to use CES courses towards state license renewal should review their individual state CPC requirements to determine if a CES course/CEU is a suitable activity.  If the student is uncertain if the course qualifies, they should contact their state licensing board for a determination.  For more information concerning the NCEES CPC recommendations and links to individual state renewal requirements please see the NCEES web site at www.ncees.org.