Professional Development Committee (PDC)

Voting Members (11)

Chair: Jerry Sanders
Board Liaison: IECA Board Technical Vice President: Charles Riling
Educational Track Chair: J.B. Dixon
IECA Instructors (3): David Todd, Ted Sherrod, and Julie Etra
IECA Member at Large (4): Jim Spotts, Mark Goldsmith, Jennifer Hildebrand, Alex Zimmerman
Spanish Education Liaison: Nicky Araujo

Non-Voting Members (7)

Staff Liaison: Education Director, Jimmy Eanes
EPA Liaison to the PDC: Greg Schaner
At Large Members (3): Britt Faucette, Brock Peters, Mike Chase
Chapter Advisory Committee Liaison: Lauren Caudle
Assistant to the ET Chair: Carrie Powers

IECA members who have expressed a desire to participate in the Professional Development Committee, are in good standing with the IECA, and have been appointed by the PDC Committee Chair in accordance with the Membership, Qualifications & Term of Service requirements of this document.

Committee Description:

The PDC will set procedures and advise in providing technically sound and proficient educational courses and programs that enhance members’ professional knowledge at each career stage through technical information exchange, facilitation of research opportunities and encouraging diversity in professional development.

The PDC also serves the IECA Board of Directors, providing Long Range Education Plans and Implementation Procedures.

Responsibilities:

Work with committee members and staff to recommend and review ideas and topics that may be developed into technical course offerings to include: IECA Conference courses, IECA live, and online educational programs.
Develop or solicit from experts the development of courses to meet the needs of the membership and to aid in increasing membership through educational value. Serve as advisors to the Educational Track Sub Committee Chair and the Educational Track Sub Committee for the peer review process, including oversight of the technical review process.
Develop policies and processes for Board of Directors approval as they arise relevant to IECA’s educational courses and/or programs.
Develop instructor and faculty qualifications
Recruit potential instructors and faculty within the qualifications developed
Review current instructor policies, and instructor agreements, making revisions as necessary
Work with IECA staff to screen potential instructors and faculty.
Evaluate instructors and classes to be offered by IECA.
Bring to the attention of the Board of Directors any issues that require immediate action to implement the enforcement of the committee’s area of responsibility.
Establish a process for removal of any faculty member and/or instructors for cause, including but not limited to, failure to perform duties.
Evaluate all IECA faculty and instructors based on established performance metrics
Continuing Education Units (CEUs)

Determine courses eligible for CEUs

The PDC members will develop a process to evaluate course content and recommend courses for CEU credits

The PDC members will aid in determining proper procedures required for attendees to be eligible to receive CEUs
The PDC members will determine how to aid chapters in offering CEUs at chapter sponsored events
The PDC members will help staff to determine the system necessary to record and track CEUs for membership

Provide guidance for IECA Education by establishing an education matrix for essential courses for live and online environments.

Activities where participation is required:

Course offerings review
Instructor reviews
Instructor agreements
Development of new courses
Review and update of current courses

Committee Objectives:

Enhance our conference education, looking for other resources outside our membership. This includes forming partnerships with other like associations and sharing their presenters, as we submit to present at their conferences and events.
Build our chapter speaker bureau. Search for outstanding speakers for our conference. As proven, effective speakers on the chapter level, will enhance our national and international education efforts.
Encourage vendor participation in the conference by offering “how to” presentations that are NOT product sales sessions.
Build a quality webinar delivery process for those who need immediate, affordable education.
Create a strong library of online content for members and non members of IECA. Develop a strategy of delivering online material that is basic, intermediate and advanced material.
Engage our member educator by encourage participation in an Educational Track which is within their area of interest and expertise. These will become Member Resources to our members and to IECA Education.

Membership, Qualifications & Term of Service:

Members of the PDC play a critical role in ensuring that IECA’s educational program is of the highest quality.

The Professional Development Committee shall consist of, at a minimum, the Technical Vice-President of IECA as the Board of Directors liaison, the Educational Track Sub Committee Chair, three IECA Instructors, four IECA Members at Large and the Spanish Education Liaison. The group of people listed under “Voting Members” above will have PDC voting privileges. The Education Director will serve as the IECA staff liaison (or staff replacement in the absence of the Education Director). Other individuals may join the committee for purposes of providing input and to become eligible to serve as a voting member based on the requirements and qualifications listed below.

Only IECA members may serve as voting members on the committee.

IECA members wishing to serve on the PDC must make a request in writing to the PDC Chair or staff liaison and provide a short biography with this request. The staff liaison will forward any requests to the Chair who will review the upcoming needs of the Committee for the coming year. The Chair may consult with the entire committee prior to completing the committee slate for presentation to the IECA President during the annual meeting. This consultation is to determine possible changes and commitments from current members to remain on the committee as well as to determine new candidates to add to the committee.

Chair Selection & Term:

The PDC Chairperson shall be appointed at the annual meeting to a two-year term by the current IECA President of the Board of Directors when the complete committee slate is approved.

The chairperson may not serve in that capacity more than two (2) consecutive terms.

Technical Vice President Selection & Term:

The Technical Vice President shall be elected by the IECA Board of Directors at the annual meeting and will serve on the committee at the pleasure of the IECA Board of Directors.

Educational Track Sub Committee Chair Selection and Educational Track Sub Committee Assistant to the Chair Term:

The Educational Track Sub Committee Chair and Assistant Chairs shall be appointed by the Technical Vice President to the Board of Directors and will serve as specified in the term Requirements of the Educational Track Sub Committee.

IECA Instructors Selection and Term:

The IECA Instructors shall be appointed to a two year term by the PDC Chairperson.

IECA Instructors may not serve in that capacity more than two consecutive terms.

IECA Members at Large Selection and Term:

The IECA Members at Large shall be appointed to a one year term by the PDC Chairperson. IECA Members at Large may not serve in that capacity more than two consecutive terms

Chapter Advisory Committee Liaison Selection and Term:

The Chapter Advisory Committee Liaison is appointed by the Chapter Advisory Committee in accordance with the Chapter Liaison to the PDC document accepted on September 16, 2009.

Spanish Education Chair Selection and Term:

The IECA Spanish Education Chair shall be appointed to a one year term by the PDC Chairperson and may not serve in that capacity more than two consecutive terms.

Committee Chair, Member Removal & Replacement:

The Committee Chair and members may be removed for cause, including but not limited to, failure to perform duties. A committee member must attend at least 75 percent of the year’s scheduled meetings and/or offer comments on agenda items to the staff liaison if unable to attend the meetings. Members must actively participate in all requests relevant to course review activity. Excused absences are acceptable and may be considered as participation in the PDC meetings.

The Committee Chair and members may be removed for improper conduct or deemed ethics violations that are against the interests of IECA and/or the PDC Committee. The Professional Development committee members must agree to exercise discretion and keep discussions within all PDC meetings confidential. The PDC is often provided confidential information about educational and course content and development opportunities for the purpose of giving IECA an opportunity to build content for live and online course development. Members of the PDC agree not to personally use, profit from, or divulge these opportunities to other individuals or organizations, for their personal or professional profit. Violation of this agreement is grounds for dismissal from the PDC and a code of ethics violation which could lead to loss of membership.

The chair can be removed by the President of the Board of Directors.

A committee member may be removed by the chair or by 2/3 vote of the voting membership of the committee.

In the event that a committee member steps down or is removed during his or her term, the chair will solicit a replacement. The replacement will serve out the remainder of the vacated term and will be eligible for re-appointment at the end of the vacated term. If the chair is removed or resigns, the Technical Vice President will solicit a replacement to be appointed by the IECA President.

Faculty Member/Instructor Removal:

The PDC shall be responsible for review and evaluation of the faculty and instructors.

The committee shall have the authority to disqualify and/or remove a faculty member or instructor based on their actions concerning their faculty agreement or a very low evaluation score on their course. In the case of a very low course score, the committee could be tasked with evaluating circumstances that may determine either that there is no fault on the part of the faculty member/instructor or that improvement may be warranted in certain circumstances.

Meetings & Reports:

The committee will meet via teleconference at least every month from April until August and meet in the months of October, December, and February. The committee may have one face-to-face meeting a year, which will take place at the annual conference. The PDC Chair will send a report of committee activity to the IECA Staff Liaison at least five weeks before each regularly scheduled IECA Board of Directors meeting. There are currently three Board meetings per year.

Updated: April 10, 2012