LAPELS-CPD Requirements for Professionalism and Ethics
Since 1999, LAPELS has required Continuing Professional Development credits for professional engineers registered in Louisiana. Each registered engineer is required to complete 30 PDH (essentially 30 contact hours of Professional Development) every two years, including at least one PDH covering "Professional ethics". (See Detailed LAPELS CPD requirements).
Texas SBPE-CEP Requirements for Ethics
The Texas State Board of Professional Engineering has recently adopted requirements for a Continuing Education Program very similar to Louisiana's. Beginning with renewals in 2005, every PE is required to complete 15 hours of CEP activities, including at least one hour of ethics.
My short courses, "Ethics for the Practicing Engineer" are designed to meet these requirements. These courses provide content in engineering, professionalism, and ethics for engineers, and can be presented in various formats. The basic course is designed to meet the LAPELS requirements and is pre-approved by LAPELS. Texas SBPE does not pre-approve or certify providers, but this course will satisfy the current requirements of Texas SBPE Continuing Education Program. Participants receive a certificate showing completion of 8 PDH of Continuing Professional Development, as well as the required 1 PDH in professional ethics.
This CPD course has grown out of a required 3 credit hour undergraduate course required of all undergraduate engineering students at Texas A&M University. For more information about the 3-hr university credit course at Texas A&M, and for other Engineering Ethics resources, please see my home page at Texas A&M University.
Instructor:
RAY W. JAMES, P.E., Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Zachry Department of Civil Engineering
Director of Engineering Student Advising and Development
Dwight Look College of Engineering
Fellow, ASCE (more information)
Ethics for the Practicing Engineer—a one-day short course in Engineering & Ethics
The very positive public perception of engineers, particularly licensed professional engineers, contrasts with the public’s tarnished perception of the medical and especially the legal professions. The fact that engineering is held in better favor can be attributed largely to the high ethical standards set by engineers within their own profession. The growing trend of required continuing education, often including requirements for education in engineering ethics, is one indication of the position taken by the profession.
This short course, developed from a very successful course now required of all engineering undergraduate students at Texas A&M University, provides the practicing professional engineer or EIT with an overview of the legal and moral responsibilities of the engineering profession, an understanding of the nature of ethical conflicts that can confront an engineer in practice, and a methodical approach to classifying and resolving such ethical conflicts. These concepts are highlighted by several case studies.
Course Highlights:
Overview of the legal responsibilities of engineers
Laws concerning engineering registration and ethical responsibilities
Moral responsibilities of engineers
Introduction to methods to identify, classify, analyze, and resolve ethical conflicts
Course principles highlighted with case studies
Some of the Illustrative Case Studies Discussed:
Disaster averted--William LeMessurier and the CitiCorp Center
Roger Boisjoly and Morton Thiokol--their role in the loss of the Shuttle Challenger
Engineering responsibilities--the collapse of the Missouri City antenna tower
What price to put on pain--Ford Motor Co. and the Pinto
Responsible Charge--Ed Turner, P.E., and the City of Idaho Falls
Scientific integrity--The A7 Aircraft Brake scandal
In addition to the 8-hour course described here, 4-hour and 1-hour courses are also available.
Recent and planned offerings
of these courses:
21 March 2002 SPE-GCS, Houston
12 September 2002 Louisiana Engineering Society, Baton Rouge
3 April 2003 Haestad, New Orleans
11 September 2003 SPE-GCS, Conroe
21 May 2004 TTI, College Station
24 August 2004 SPE-GCS, Conroe
23 October 2004 SEAoT, Austin
19 November 2004 ITS, Ft. Worth
13 May 2005 Technip, Houston
18 May 2006 SPE-GCS, Conroe
12 January 2006 ASHRAE, Tyler
4 April 2006 Protective Relay Engrs, College Station
12 June 2006 TTI, College Station
10 July 2006 TTI, College Station
26 September 2006 J. Ray McDermott, Houston
2 October 2006 TSPE, San Antonio
27 October 2006 J. Ray McDermott, New Orleans
7 December 2006 SEAoT, Austin Chapter, Austin
1 February 2007 ITE, Houston
11May 2007 SWEDE Conference, San Antonio
10 August 2007 Pape-Dawson Co., San Antonio
14 September 2007 SPE-GCS, Houston
1 October 2007 TSPE, Bexar Chapter, San Antonio
19 March 2008 Texas A&M University at Qatar
2 May 2008 SWEDE Conference, Austin (pending)
For more details or information about these or future offerings, please contact me at r-james@tamu.edu.
To make special arrangements for this course to be offered to several engineers in your office on your schedule, allowing your staff to satisfy their LAPELS CPD or Texas SBPE CEP requirements in a time-efficient and cost-effective way, please contact me at r-james@tamu.edu, or by phone (979) 845-7265 (day), 979-693-3507 (evenings).