January, 2000
Enhanced M.I.T. Program
By Mischelle vanThiel
Mischelle vanThiel is APEGGA's Professional Development Coordinator and is based in the Association's Calgary office.
Improvements to APEGGA's Members-In-Training program includes a new guideline which will be complemented by a mentorship guideline, a new mentorship seminar, and a series of workshops.
The Association is committed to ensuring the success of future generations of professional engineers and geoscientists. For several years, our Members-In-Training have been requesting more assistance in making the transition from student to Professional Member. We have been listening and are pleased to announce a number of enhancements to our existing M.I.T. program. The enhanced M.I.T. program consists of a new guideline, an accompanying mentorship guideline, a new mentorship seminar, and a comprehensive series of workshops.
APEGGA Members-In-Training can now turn to a new guideline entitled Professional Development: A Guideline for Members-In-Training, Examination Candidates, Students and Applicants. The guideline provides detailed information on professional development for M.I.T.s, experience requirements, supervision, references, the Board of Examiners' requirements, acceptable forms of documentation, and the Member Induction Ceremony. All M.I.T.s should carefully review this new guideline and discuss its contents with their supervisors. The guideline also briefly addresses the value of forming mentorship relationships as a means of ongoing professional development. The value and how-to's of mentoring are discussed in greater detail in our second new guideline entitled Mentoring.
The new Mentoring guideline is an important source of information for anyone considering forming a mentoring relationship, either as a mentor or a protégé. This guideline can be used as a stand-alone document, or can be supplemented with our accompanying hands-on evening seminar. The seminar has been designed to encourage participants to review what they want out of a mentoring relationship; to carefully consider what they have to offer as a mentor or protégé; to provide participants with checklists for creating effective mentorship relationships and avoiding common pitfalls; and concludes with a networking session that allows potential mentors and proteges to find one another. Look for announcements in upcoming issues of The PEGG regarding this new Mentorship Seminar and be sure to sign up early.
In addition to the Mentorship Seminar, APEGGA is committed to providing M.I.T.s with skill-building workshops. Following a province-wide survey of M.I.T.s and Responsible Members this past summer, the Association recognized the need for professional development opportunities targeted specifically to M.I.T.s. As a result, Council has approved a budget for the development and implementation of a broad series of half-day workshops in the areas of communication skills and management skills. M.I.T.s are required to demonstrate, to the Board of Examiners, proficiency in these areas prior to acceptance as Professional Members. These voluntary workshops will be developed in conjunction with industry experts and offered at a very reasonable cost. The workshops will be available beginning in the fall of 2000.
Both new guidelines are available at APEGGA's website at www.apegga.org or at APEGGA's offices free of charge. We welcome your feedback on the new guidelines, seminars, and workshops as they become available.