By Brian V. Bovyn, CEM, Emergency Services Supervisor, Manchester, New Hampshire Police Department

As a result of an IAEM survey, a number of members and non-members considering or in the process of completing their AEM or CEM packets asked for some additional ideas on professional contributions. Six different professional contribution categories must be validated in order for the candidate to successfully complete this requirement. The contributions may be part of a candidate’s duties as identified in the job description, with the exception of “leadership” and “service role,” which must not be part of a candidate’s job description.

Training Presentations. A candidate must complete training or instructing a course of three hours of platform speaking time, which must be validated with a letter or letters from the sponsoring organization or a candidate’s supervisor on official stationary. Technician-type training, such as CPR, PPE, fire service, HazMat or similar training, is not acceptable. Emergency management, disaster or incident command training would be examples of acceptable training to meet this requirement.

The validation letter or letters should identify dates, locations and subject matter, and should clearly identify the candidate’s name as having performed this activity. Additional documentation may include pamphlets, brochures, newspaper or newsletter articles. Class outlines or payroll sheets can help to meet this requirement. The candidate may use more than one course of instruction; however, the total teaching time must equal or exceed three hours of platform instruction.

Course Development. The candidate must design or make a significant revision to an emergency management course of at least three hours of instruction. A PowerPoint presentation with the candidate’s name alone will not meet the requirement of course development. Acceptable documentation may include letters from a supervisor or sponsoring organization, course syllabus and lesson plan, which clearly shows a time commitment and candidate relationship to the development of the course, and that the course is clearly emergency management related.

Emergency Management Article. The candidate must write and have published a substantive article (content or word count), pertaining to disaster or emergency management. The article must have an independent editorial review and be published in a document that is beyond the control of the candidate. Examples of this are the IAEM Bulletin, the monthly newsletter published by the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), the Journal of Emergency Management, or other similar professional publications that rise above the level of staff documents, internal reports or flyers. Documentation to validate this attestation would include a copy of the article or letter from a supervisor or sponsoring organization identifying publication date, independent editorial review process, candidate’s participation (primary authorship or secondary) and circulation figures.

Speaking Engagements. The candidate must deliver three or more speaking engagements of a minimum of 20 minutes or more on topics related to emergency or disaster management. Speaking about fire prevention, crime prevention or first aid does not meet the spirit of the requirement. Documentation to validate the activities include letters from a supervisor or sponsoring organization leader; the letter should clearly name the candidate as having completed the speaking activity, the duration, dates, locations, subject matter, outline, photos, videos or other modes showing that the candidate did perform the activity. The speaking engagements can be professional groups, church groups, public or professional.

A good example of this activity would be to have the candidate go to Ready.gov, research how to make a home emergency supply kit, family communications and emergency plan, and then do a presentation to a civic group about the purpose of the kits and plans, how to create the kits and plans, and then consider providing a sample kit and plan that the group could review.

Legislative Contact. The candidate contacts an elected representative at the national or state level (in writing), either by e-mail or letter, and discusses an emergency management related issue. Some subject examples might be Emergency Management Performance Grants (EMPG), Hazard Mitigation Grants, Homeland Security Grants related to emergency management activities or other issues, such as communications interoperability, warning coordination, evacuation planning, or special needs populations in emergencies or disasters. In order to qualify, the documentation must include both the candidate’s letter or e-mail to the elected official and the response from the elected official.

Author’s Note: The author thanks Daryl Spiewak, CEM, TEM, TCFM, for contributing to this article.

Source: IAEM AEM/CEM Application.

IAEM Bulletin, January 2011

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