IN THIS ISSUE:

Welcome
Jay Hutchins, Executive Director

Greetings! We’re having a productive summer here, and we hope you are too. We welcome several new Board members to our ranks and look forward to learning from their experiences. We have plenty of exam updates to share with our candidates, and are pleased to announce that we’re eliminating exam application fees. We extend our congratulations to Board members who have received recent accolades, and look forward to sharing Baltimore with CLARB during its upcoming annual meeting. Enjoy reading, and let us know how we’re doing. See you in the Fall!
 

Board Updates

Board of Examiners of Landscape Architects

CLARB Comes to Town
Mark your calendars! CLARB’s annual meeting will be held on August 26-28, 2010 at Baltimore’s Hyatt Regency, in the heart of the Inner Harbor. As this meeting coincides with CLARB’s 40th anniversary, the theme will be “The Past, Present and Future of CLARB” and a celebration will be held during the President’s Dinner (black tie optional) on Friday evening. Members are invited to participate in the Board of Directors election, take advantage of information sessions and networking opportunities, and meet the winner of the 2010 Wayne Grace Memorial Student Design Competition. A walking tour of the Inner Harbor and its impressive landscape architecture is also scheduled. See you there!

Meet Beatrice Odom Scott
The Board welcomes its newest consumer member, Beatrice Odom Scott. Ms. Scott served for many years as a public school teacher in Baltimore, New York City, Richmond, Virginia, and Tokyo, Japan. She was also a senior supervisor in the Special Home Services Division of the Baltimore City Health Department, and an aide and analyst with the Maryland Department of Employment and Social Services. Ms. Scott earned her BS in Elementary Education with a minor in Art from Hampton University and attended law school at the University of Baltimore. Currently, she works as a publishing consultant through her company, The Storybook Project. She has been a resident of Baltimore’s Ashburton neighborhood for 41 years and is very active in her community. She serves on the board of the Ashburton Area Association, co-founded the annual Ashburton Block Party, and is involved in many other civic organizations. Welcome, Bea!
 

Board of Certified Interior Designers

Meet Melanie Hartwig-Davis
The Board welcomes new Architect member Melanie Hartwig-Davis, AIA, LEED AP. She has emphasized the importance of sustainable building practices since architectural school, as exhibited by her platform when she was elected a National Director of the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS). Ms. Hartwig-Davis received her Bachelors of Architecture from Mississippi State University in 1995. She began her career at Bignell Watkins Hasser Architects, P.A. in Annapolis, where she brought sustainable thinking to retail, housing, and civic projects throughout the central East Coast. Upon receiving her Maryland architectural license in 1999, she began her own practice, HD Squared Architects, LLC, in Cheverly, Maryland. In the fall of 2008, she earned the title of LEED Accredited Professional to formalize her commitment to sustainability in architecture. She is active in her community, serving on the Cheverly Green Infrastructure Committee and in various capacities at Cheverly United Methodist Church. Welcome, Melanie!

We also bid farewell to Teri Lura Bennett, who has served on the Board since April 2005. You’ll be missed, Teri!
 

Board of Architects

Meet William Parham, Jr.
The Board is pleased to welcome its newest consumer member, William N. Parham, Jr. Most recently, Mr. Parham served as a senior consultant with IBM as part of a PricewaterhouseCoopers team providing management consulting services to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. After retiring from a 24-year career with IBM in 1993, he took his leadership skills to the Madison Avenue Development Corporation, where he was a founding board member and Executive Director. He served as a Community Builder Fellow with HUD, then as a technology-based training manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mr. Parham holds a BA from the University of Maryland and a Community Building certificate from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Stadium Place retirement community and is currently on the Board of Directors of Prelude, Inc., a provider of technology for the senior care industry. He is a trustee of PHI, Inc., a corporation dedicated to elder care, and of the San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, California. The Board appreciates his willingness to share his valuable experience. Welcome, William!

Intern Reminder: IDP Six-Month Rule
NCARB’s Six-Month Rule will apply to all interns beginning July 1, 2010. The Rule requires you to submit all your IDP training hours in reporting periods of no longer than six months and within two months of the end of each reporting period. Once you enter your hours into your NCARB Record, they’re exempt from the Six-Month Rule while paperwork is finalized. Don’t let your hours pile up! Your hours will not be jeopardized by delays caused by NCARB or your supervisor; however, you may lose your hours if your supervisor rules them invalid or if you have earned them outside the parameters of the IDP.

If you established an NCARB Record on or after July 1, 2009, then the Six-Month Rule already applies to you. NCARB has provided many resources explaining the Six-Month Rule and how it affects you. Please contact your IDP supervisor with any questions or concerns.
 

Board for Professional Land Surveyors

John Mettee Appointed New Chair
The Board is pleased to announce that John V. Mettee, III has been appointed Chair, filling the vacancy left by Dr. Charles Maloy’s death in December. Mr. Mettee is Vice President of Frederick Ward Associates, Inc. and has over 37 years of land surveying and engineering experience. In addition to his Maryland license, he holds licenses in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey. Before joining the Board in 2005, he held a variety of positions with the Maryland Society of Surveyors and was honored as MSS’ Surveyor of the Year. From 1997 through 2006, Mr. Mettee served as Maryland State Trigstar Coordinator and as an instructor for Trimble Certified Courses. He has also offered workshops and seminars for MSS and the New Jersey Society of Land Surveyors. He served as adjunct faculty in Catonsville Community College’s surveying program and is now a member of the program’s advisory committee. An Assemblies of God minister, Mr. Mettee and his wife Kimberly have three children and seven grandchildren. Congratulations, John!

Tom Orisich Wins ENNY
Board member Tom Orisich was awarded NCEES’ Distinguished Service Award, colloquially known as the ENNY, at the Northeast/Southern Zone meeting in April. Chair John Mettee and Professional Engineers Board members Skip Harclerode (Chair), Pastor Farinas, and Steven Arndt were also present at the meeting, which was held in Tampa, Florida. Congratulations, Tom!

Prof. LS or Prop. LS?
The Board would like to clarify the differences between the designation of Professional Land Surveyor (commonly abbreviated as Prof. LS—the regulations governing land surveyors in Maryland specifically preclude the abbreviation “PLS” and consider it misleading) and Property Line Surveyor (Prop. LS). Both licenses qualify a surveyor to engage in the full scope of practice related to boundary law, easements, plats, etc.; however, only a Professional Land Surveyor is certified to practice the minor engineering aspects of surveying, which include road grade design, stormwater management, and similar planning projects. Due to the potential for confusion, the Prop. LS license was dropped in 1989. Currently, the Board only issues Prof. LS licenses, although those practitioners who hold a grandfathered Prop. LS license are encouraged to keep their licenses active. Many have gone on to earn their Prof. LS licenses as well. Regardless of your license category, the Board reminds you to keep your CPC up to date and thanks you for your efforts on behalf of the profession.
 

Board for Professional Engineers

Meet David Mongan
The Board welcomes its newest civil engineer member, David Mongan, P.E., F. ASCE, following the retirement of longtime member Eugene Harvey. Most recently, Mr. Mongan served for 10 years as president of Whitney, Bailey, Cox & Magnani, LLC. During his tenure, he managed a large-scale project extending Baltimore’s light rail system as well as many construction inspection projects for the State Highway Administration. He also provided project management oversight for WBCM’s traffic engineering/ITS and surveying divisions. His professional affiliations include the Society of American Military Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Institute of Transportation Engineers, the National Society of Professional Engineers, and the American Society of Highway Engineers. Mr. Mongan holds a B.S. and Masters in Civil Engineering from the University of Maryland and an MBA from Loyola College. We look forward to benefiting from his experience and perspective. Welcome, David!

PE Seals Discovered Missing
Recently, the Board was notified that several PE seals have been discovered missing by firm employees. As you know, this is very serious; while no wrongdoing has yet been confirmed, the improper use of seals compromises the safety of the public as well as the integrity of the profession. The Board requests that you be vigilant; if you happen to find that a seal has gone missing, please contact the Board. Thank you for helping us protect the consumers of Maryland.

University of Maryland Wins NCEES Award
The University of Maryland’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering recently received an NCEES Engineering Award for Connecting Professional Practice and Education. The department’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders developed a solar recharge project (PDF document, download Adobe Acrobat for free) that brought off-grid electricity to 22 villages in Burkina Faso. Board Chair Skip Harclerode, P.E. presented the award at a ceremony on April 27, 2010, saying, “It was a privilege to present [the award] to the civil and environmental engineering students at the University of Maryland, my alma mater, and see the work they’ve done with their Engineers Without Borders chapter.” The University was one of five schools chosen to receive a prize of $7,500, with the University of Delaware winning the $25,000 grand prize. The Board congratulates these students and their mentors and looks forward to seeing the ways in which they put their skills to further humanitarian use.

Skip Harclerode Elected NSPE Fellow
The Board congratulates Chair Skip Harclerode, P.E. on his recent appointment to the distinguished grade of Fellow Member of the National Society of Professional Engineers. He is one of 35 professional engineers selected for this year’s honor, which rewards the outstanding leadership and dedication of less than 1% of NSPE members. There are only four other NSPE Fellows in Maryland, one of whom is former Board Vice-Chair Jim Lesikar. The notification letter remarked on Skip’s “devoted service and vast contributions to the Society and profession.” He received his Fellow Certificate and pin at the Maryland Society of Professional Engineers Annual Meeting, held at The Engineer’s Club on June 17, 2010. Congratulations, Skip!
(Photo courtesy of the Maryland Society of Professional Engineers.)

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Automatic Audit Notification Launched
If you’ve renewed your license online lately, you may have noticed a change to the final confirmation screen. On April 5, 2010, an automatic selection process for continuing education audits was incorporated into the renewal process. If you have been randomly chosen to have your CE audited, your renewal confirmation screen will notify you that it’s your lucky day. You will then have 30 days to present your CE certificates to your Board for review. A reminder will be sent to the email address on file, so if your email address is out-of-date, update it using Name/Address Change (under your Board’s Licensing or Certification tab). There’s no excuse for not keeping your contact info current. Remember: You may not be selected for a random audit, but your Board can choose to review your CE any time. Make sure your CE is up to date, and that you have the paperwork to prove it!

Exam Application Fees to be Eliminated
Individual Boards have proposed eliminating exam application fees. It is our hope that in these difficult economic times, one less fee will help to slightly ease the financial burden faced by students and other exam applicants. This change comes with two caveats: It does not apply to the interior design exam, which is administered through NCIDQ, and applies only to the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam, not the Principles and Practices of Engineering (PE) exam. The proposed regulations will be published in the July 16, 2010 issue of the Maryland Register, with an open comment period through August 16, 2010. Please submit any comments to pamedwards@dllr.state.md.us.

Reminder: NCEES’ Examinee Management System
We brought this change to your attention in our last issue, but here’s a timely reminder that applicants planning to take the Engineering or Land Surveying exams during the October 2010 administration must register via NCEES’ new Examinee Management System. You must still be approved by the Board with which you wish to become licensed; once you are approved to take the exam, you will then create a My NCEES account in order to reserve your spot. The registration window opens on July 6, 2010 and closes on September 12, 2010, so get your applications in order!

DLLR Representatives to Attend MBOA Meetings
DLLR is pleased to have been invited to have personnel act as ex officio members of the Maryland Building Officials Association. This is an excellent outreach opportunity, as DLLR has been fostering relationships with code officials in our joint effort to ensure the safety of Maryland’s consumers. Look for a representative of DLLR at the next MBOA meeting!