APRIL 2007 ISSUE
AN EXTRA SPECIAL CEREMONY
New Member’s Parents from China
Attend Member Induction
BY GEORGE LEE
The PEGG
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PERFECT GUESTS - Electrical engineer Rachel Liu, P. Eng., who's lived in Canada for five years, is bracketed by mother Liyun Chen, left, and father Qiang Liu, an electrical engineer. her parents were here for a visit at the time of the Edmonton cermony. |
One APEGGA member had two extra reasons to be excited about her official induction into full professional licensure, Feb. 22. Special guests at her table were her parents from China.
Rachel Liu, P.Eng., a UMA electrical engineer who’s lived in Canada for five years, was one of 56 inductees honoured during the APEGGA Member Induction Ceremony in Edmonton. Qiang Liu, also an electrical engineer , and his wife, Liyun Chen, speak and understand little English. Here on a six-month visit, they were able to witness their daughter’s reading of the Professional Member Oath.
The ceremony brought together a mosaic of the people and cultures represented in APEGGA. Inductee degrees are from institutions across Canada and around the world, ranging from the University of Alberta to the University of New Brunswick, from the Philippines’ Bulacan State University to the Moscow Civil Engineering University. Likewise, the list of employers the inductees work for covers a wide spectrum of Edmonton and area permit holders.
A similar ceremony in Calgary, where there’s a larger concentration of members, attracted 160 inductees. APEGGA puts on four of the ceremonies each year – two in Calgary, two in Edmonton. Each member brings up to four guests at no charge, and more can come if they pay. In Calgary’s casethe crowd topped 500.
Branches throughout the province often put on their own ceremonies, in conjunction with annual President’s Visits.
Executive Director & Registrar Neil Windsor, P.Eng., congratulated the new Edmonton members on completing their requirements for licensure. He gave them a frameable copy of the oath and led its reading before the crowd of about 220.
“I know you will have very successful, rewarding and prosperous careers in Alberta,” APEGGA President David Chalcroft, P.Eng., told Rachel and the other new professionals in Edmonton. He later gave the inductees an APEGGA pin, as they strode past him on the stage.
Member Induction Ceremonies are not mandatory for new APEGGA professionals. The Association does, however, encourage new professional members and new registered professional technologists to attend. In fact in the last year the Association has enhanced the program to make it more attractive.
Nancy Toth, APEGGA’s Manager, Professional Development & Human Resources, the event has had from 2o to 25 per cent of eligible inductees take part, since its inception in 1996. APEGGA held focus groups with members-in-training and professional members a few years ago, to help decide on enhancements.
Involving the President and Mr. Windsor adds dignity and relevance to the ceremonies, she says. The continued use of high-profile speakers also helps.
This year’s Edmonton speaker was Nizar Somji, P.Eng., the founder, chairman and former president and CEO of Matrikon Inc. In eight years, his company grew from 22 employees to nearly 600. Kris Frederickson, P.Eng., spoke in Calgary. Mr. Frederickson is a facilitator in the cultural diversity stream of the Annual Conference Professional Development Program, later this month.
The evening program moves along faster, now, because APEGGA has replaced separate, individual introductions with a glossy souvenir booklet. Following the practice of most ceremonies of this kind, the master of ceremonies calls each inductee up the stage by name. The booklet lists all the inductees, their degrees and universities, their qualifying experience and their current employers.
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PROMISE & SUCCESS - Nizar Somji, P.Eng., the founder, chairman and former president and CEO of Matrikon Inc., discusses what he looked for in engineers to help lead his company to award-winning heights. |
More new professionals have attended in recent years. The total for all four ceremonies in 2006 was 229 participants, compared with 166 the year before. So far in 2007, with two of four ceremonies completed, attendance has already reached 216, no doubt partially do to recent format enhancements.
However, the revived popularity is primarily because of an increasing number of new professional members, which a booming economy has generated. In 2006 the APEGGA Board of Examiners registered more than 2,600 new professionals.
Many inductees will have gone through an earlier ceremony, before they received their licences. The Iron and Earth Ring ceremonies are something else entirely, however.
They recognize graduates before they’ve achieved professional licensure. The Iron Ring Ceremony dates from 1922, when professional regulation in Canada was in its infancy. APEGGA supports the Ring Ceremonies, and works with the independent camps and wardens that conduct them.
Because of the tradition and mystique attached to Ring Ceremonies, they’re
on students’ radar. However, professional membership constitutes actual
qualification to practice independently.
“You’re not a professional engineer, geologist or geophysicist until
you’re registered, so this is very important,” says Ms. Toth. “We
think this is a milestone that many of members would like to mark.”
Adds Len Shrimpton, P.Eng., APEGGA Director, Internal Affairs: “From a
professional regulatory standpoint, this is a larger milestone than graduation.”
He says Member Induction Ceremonies are one way the Association personalizes professionalism and gives new members a sense of belonging. The ceremonies complement the work APEGGA does with members-in-training and university students, to give the Association value and underline personal responsibility in self-governance.