The Professional Qualifications department is preparing for the upcoming Mid-Year Meeting, April 15-16 at the Tributary Hub (hosted by Local 75) in Madison, Wisconsin. We are going to try a different format for the meeting this year. Full committee meetings will still be conducted, however, closed sessions will also take place. Members of subcommittees will participate in the closed sessions. See the draft schedule posted at asse-plumbing.org/midyear.
The department has two new staff members. Karen Kadubek joined the department last year and will be a liaison between ASSE and schools. She will also oversee the site visit process and audit process for schools. If you have not had a chance to meet Karen, please take a moment to introduce yourself during the Mid-Year meeting. The other new staff member is Allison Drechny, who joined the team late last year and will oversee IAPMO and ASSE exams. Allison is learning more about the various committees the PQ department manages and will be the liaison for a couple of committees in the future.
Tracy Schuster is the third person in the PQ department. For more than four years, she has been an enormous asset to the department by providing support and training to the other team members. A big shoutout to Tracy for being such a fantastic team player during a transitional time for the department.
We also recently conducted a job task analysis for the ASSE backflow tester certification. The PQ team, along with 15 subject matter experts, took part in this process. The subject-matter experts met last year at ASSE Headquarters in Mokena, Illinois, to develop a pilot survey that was sent out to all currently certified backflow testers. The responses to the study were beyond our expectations; if you took the survey, thank you for being part of this critical process. A report of the findings will be finalized in March. I always say that volunteers are the backbone of an organization, and this is a perfect example of people coming together for a common cause to ensure that our program is the best in the industry.
We will still be conducting webinars to update you on discussion topics at meetings and any other issues relevant to schools. The one item that stood out to me during discussions at last October’s annual meeting was the need for new program directors to be trained on ASSE processes. If you have a new program director who needs some guidance or questions, please direct them to us, and we can schedule a meeting to answer their questions one-on-one. Another initiative that is taking place internally is reviewing documents and updating them to reflect current policies and procedures. We will send the documents to the corresponding schools for review as they are revised and finalized.
As standards are updated or new standards are developed, the PQ department works with subject matter experts to determine whether or not a certification exam should be developed for that specific standard. The intent of developing a certification exam is to ensure that the exam aligns with our mission, which is to protect the public. ASSE stands by those values and works to abide by them. If there is a topic or trend that you are seeing in the industry, please let us know and an assessment can be made as to whether a new standard should be developed.
The PQ department looks forward to a prosperous and productive year for everyone. If we can be of assistance, please do not hesitate to reach out. I look forward to seeing everyone at our Mid-Year Meeting.
Cover image: Tracy Schuster (left), Douglas Marian (middle), and Joseph Fernandez jr. (right) at an ASSE professional qualifications technical committee meeting.
