IECA News

The Mother-Lode of Conferences – Environmental Connection Recap

What a great conference! IECA is proud to announce yet another triumphant experience for attendees at Environmental Connection 2015. IECA and the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) hosted a co-located conference in Portland, Oregon, February 15–18, 2015. The combined conferences were a huge success totaling more than 2,700 attendees and more than 240 exhibitors, shattering previous conference records.

The 2015 Environmental Connection Conference was complete with a host of educational components including 130 technical sessions and six full-day courses offering participants professional development hours.

“Portland was a strong conference for us from an educational perspective. Classrooms were full and there was a presence of emerging industry experts teaching in our classrooms. With our recent acceptance as an Authorized Provider of CEUs, the future is bright for IECA Education,” says Jimmy Eanes, education director for IECA.

Conference Sponsors
IECA would like to thank our Environmental Connection 2015 Conference Sponsors! We appreciate their continued support to the association and the industry.

CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONNECTION 2016IECA heads south in 2016—grab your cowboy hat and boots! Environmental Connection 2016 will take place February 16–19, 2016, in San Antonio, Texas. IECA is calling for presentations. The deadline to submit an abstract is May 29.

Suggested Content or Hot Topics:

Accounting for Pollutant Sources in Watersheds/Where Are They Coming From?
Green Infrastructure Practices
Rainwater Harvesting for Flood Control and Water Table Replenishment
EPA Waters of The US Rulemaking
Stormwater Compliance and Meeting Project Budgets
Innovative Training Approaches/State and Local Certification Programs/Are They Effective?
Challenges and Strategies for Transportation Agency MS4s
MS4 Compliance Strategies for Municipal Good Housekeeping
Meeting MS4 Permit Requirements with Limited Resources
Use of Drones for Inspections/Surveys, and Associated Legal Issues
Successful Implementations of Systems for Electronically Tracking Environmental Commitment

For more information or questions about how to submit your application to be a presenter, visit www.ieca.org/submissions or contact IECA’s Education Department at 303-640-7554.

Credit: ISTOCK/ FOTOSIPSAK

IECA is an Authorized Provider of CEUs! Adding Credibility to Industry Education

In February, IECA took a huge step in advancing the quality, credibility, and execution of our education program. IECA was approved as an IACET Authorized Provider (AP) of CEU credits. IACET, the International Association for Continuing Education and Training, is the premier standards-setting organization for continuing education and training. IACET’s mission is to promote and enhance quality in continuing education and training. As an Authorized Provider of CEU credits, we benchmark our education and training to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI—part of the international standard for education) through the process of becoming an IACET AP. IECA has demonstrated that our continuing education program and the implementation of processes comply with the internationally recognized standard.

There are 458 IACET APs in the United States, making up an elite group of educators dedicated to quality in continuing education and training. Consumers trust the IACET CEU because they know that the APs’ processes must follow the ANSI/IACET Standard for Continuing Education and Training. As an IACET Authorized Provider, IECA has passed a rigorous AP Accreditation process and has been thoroughly assessed by a third party.

Our objective in becoming an AP of CEU credit is to demonstrate our commitment to your continued education through advancing the quality of IECA’s education program. Course attendees increasingly seek a national CEU approval status for classroom hours. Members and non-members who attend IECA’s live and online courses are often in need of continuing education hours and find our content a valuable resource. Instead of offering a verification of attendance, which generally comes in the form of a PDH (professional development hour) certificate, we can now offer our attendees CEU credit (in IECA-approved classes), approved by the IACET process. These CEU credits are quantifiable and accredited.

What This Means for IECA
For IECA, this means our approval process for courses will involve a more thorough assessment of quality, instructor competency and needs analysis than it has in the past. In compliance with the IACET standard, this process will be implemented for all future classes where we offer an IECA CEU. The IECA education leadership team feels this is an important step toward continuing to improve IECA education.

Initially, we will implement this process with our Full Day Conference courses at Environmental Connection 2016 in San Antonio. Eventually, all of our courses will go through this new process. IECA staff and our Board of Directors are committed to not only continued peer review of our content, but a thorough process of needs analysis, content assessment, and instructor review. We will insure CEU-approved courses have clear and measurable learning outcomes, a concise plan for course delivery, and a method for course assessment. Eventually, all conference courses, IECA roadshows, On Location training, online courses, and webinars will go through the same assessment and process.

Thanks to the insight of our early educators, much of what is required is already in place and has been for years, making the transition into this CEU review process smoother. Hopefully, our course attendees will notice the increase in quality of IECA education programs. In the past, we have not been as strict regarding our course instructors, their qualifications, and our documentation of their abilities. As we begin to implement this standard process, we will see the instruction quality increase as instructors are put through a more rigorous submission process. This process will require that instructors demonstrate expertise in their subject area, provide quality learning objectives, and provide a detailed course design document as well as more comprehensive presentations.

A Move Toward CredibilityIf you have been in our industry for some time, you have noticed the tendency for anyone with an average amount of knowledge to present as a qualified instructor at conferences and in our certification industry. Our certification partners have gone to great lengths to follow a standardized process of verification of their certification holders. Through becoming an IACET Authorized Provider, we are showing our desire to establish the same standard for continuing education. IECA hosts some of the brightest and best education content through IECA’s live and online education and we look forward to enhancing our content. From this point forward, IECA is dedicated to cognitive learning and the classroom practices necessary to insure the best possible delivery of technical training.

So What?
It is important for all to understand that IECA’s long history of quality education will remain unchanged. It is the process of delivering the content that will be improved. Our instructors will be the first to notice the change through their submission process. We recognize that while other content providers use the term CEU to apply to their content, they likely lack the credentials of an authorized CEU provider. That is not the case with IECA. We are dedicating our next few years to make sure all of our instructors understand the standards of implementing quality classroom delivery. As we raise the bar on IECA education, we hope to establish a standard of quality education that benefits the learner as well as draws more industry professionals to our continuing education.

As with all things new, there will be some change and if experience serves us correctly, many of our folks are uncomfortable with change, especially if it is perceived as an infringement upon the old way of doing things. The new IECA way is approved on an industry level for professional education. It will be a matter of choice whether instructors are willing to improve with us. We are counting on most of our educators to choose the better way!

Go to www.iacet.org to read more about IACET Authorized Providers.

IECA Names Sustained Contributor, Young Professional, Contractor, and Organization of the Year Awards

J.P. Johns, Sustained Contributor of the Year

IECA Region One recently named its 2014 Environmental Excellence winners at Environmental Connection 2015 in Portland, Oregon. Jason (J.P.) P. Johns, P.E. was announced as the Sustained Contributor; Brad Flack, CPESC, CESSWI, was awarded the Young Professional of the Year; Construction EcoServices was named the Contractor of the Year; and Guatemalan Sediment and Erosion Control Association was awarded the Organization of the Year.

Sustained Contributor of the Year Award
J.P. Johns, P.E., has been active in IECA since 2000 and has been a member since 2002. He has also been a member of the Erosion and Sediment Control (TS-6) Technology Section Committee and the South Carolina state representative since 2007.

The Sustained Contributor Award recognizes IECA members who have provided distinguished service to the IECA and have made outstanding contributions to improve the erosion and sediment control/stormwater industry for a sustained period of time.

Brad Flack, Young Professional of the Year

Young Professional of the Year Award
Brad Flack, CPESC, CESSWI, has earned his designation, among select thousands in the world, as a Certified Professional in Erosion & Sediment Control (CPESC) as well as his designation as a Certified Erosion, Sediment, and Stormwater Inspector (CESSWI), lending his experience and training to his customers to consult with them in all of their stormwater needs. He has served as the administrative vice president of the South Central Chapter of IECA and will serve as president for 2015-2016. He has served the technical vice-chair for the council, and is co-chair on the Stormwater Management Track for IECA Region One Education Committee. He is also an IECA mentor. The Young Professional Award recognizes IECA members 35 years old or less who demonstrate excellence in their work in the industry, and are viewed by their IECA peers as emerging industry leaders through significant engagement with the IECA.

“In my career I can see nothing but an internal drive to perform and provide the best services to my clients, as well as provide insight and knowledge to my colleagues, and if possible, I hope that my work will be a way to inspire others to work at sustainably and affordably protecting our soil and waterways,” says Brad Flack, who is also president of Storm-Tex Services.

Juan Carlos Hernandez representing AGCES, Organization of the Year

Organization of the Year Award
Juan Carlos Hernandez accepted this award on behalf of the Association Guatemaleca de Control de Erosion (AGCES). Juan Carlos is the head organizer for CICES VII and is president of AGCES. As a non-profit entity, AGCES aims to develop strategies and programs for the prevention, management, and integrated control of the soil resource and all those themes that are binding.

The Organization of the Year Award recognizes organizations that support the erosion and sediment control industry. Nominees must have achieved environmental enhancement through the successful application of an effective erosion and/or sediment control practice, program, or partnership. They must also offer continuing education to the erosion and sediment control/stormwater industry or make other contributions to the industry relative to education, research, or technical advancement.

Contractor of the Year Award
Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Construction EcoServices pioneered the model for turnkey SWPPP (stormwater pollution prevention plan) compliance services in Texas and manages stormwater quality on hundreds of commercial construction projects each year. The company is also deeply involved in the design, installation, and maintenance of high-performance low impact development (LID) biofiltration systems and green infrastructure solutions.

John Moss representing Construction EcoServices, Contractor of the Year

With the Bagby Street Redevelopment project in Houston, Construction EcoServices, as a member of a team led by Design Workshop, was selected by the American Society of Landscape Architects for a Green Street Demonstration Project to be constructed in the historic Chinatown district in Washington DC. The Bagby Street project is also a finalist for the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Development of Distinction Award. The Contractor of the Year Award recognizes those contractors who have demonstrated excellence in the field execution and application of effective erosion and sediment control, as well as stormwater practices.

“On behalf of the entire Construction EcoServices team, I am happy to accept the Contractor of the Year award from the IECA. This recognition is the result of the collaborative efforts by our CES staff to innovate and deliver value. We are truly honored to receive it,” says John Moss, business development director for Construction EcoServices.