Penn State Alumnus
Passes Bill
At a time when global terrorism, the upcoming presidential election and the withdraw of our troops in Iraq is dominating national headlines and coffee shop conversations, Mike Jacobs, ’01, thinks locally and acts selflessly. Largely due to Jacobs’ research and persistent letter writing, a bill passed through the Pennsylvania Senate and House of Representatives in January. The new law, Bill 106, act 35, enables students to count graduate work as professional experience.
Pennsylvania is one of two states not to allow a graduate degree to count towards professional experience,” Jacobs said.
Jacobs, who resides in Lemont, is a Penn State alumnus with a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering and a master’s of engineering in architectural engineering. After completing his master’s, Jacobs secured a job at a local engineering firm, but he is not just another face in the crowd.
Jacobs saw a problem: Engineers in the Keystone State could not take the Professional Engineering Exam until they had four years of professional experience. An age-old Pennsylvanian law would not let graduate work count towards professional experience. Licensure laws vary from state to state and are exclusively under the control of the individual state legislatures.
Engineers fresh out of college typically enter a firm and are considered “engineers in training.” The EIT’s work under other engineers while preparing to take the Professional Engineering Exam.
Taking this exam advances them professionally and is the ultimate step in legally practicing engineering. According to The National Society of Professional Engineers website, uniformity among state licensure laws is a goal most engineering societies have been working toward for many years.
Engineers in other states could take the exam earlier than Pennsylvania engineers because other states count graduate school towards professional experience. For example, in New York, an EIT could either wait four years after graduation to take the exam or combine a graduate education and professional experience and then take the 8-hour exam. Since Jacobs worked in New York between his bachelors and masters degrees, he realized the lack of consistency between states and acted accordingly.
“I originally pursued the law so I could take the exam a year earlier,” Jacobs said.
But he will not reap the benefits of his law because he received his bachelor’s in 1999 and now has more than four years of professional experience.
“I contacted three lawmakers: Jack Corman, local state senator; Kerry Benninghoff, who is our local representative, and Pat Vance, vice chairman of the professional licensure committee, who represents the Mechanicsburg area. (Vance) is the original sponsor of the bill, “ Jacobs said.
“I plan on taking the test this April,” he added. “The test contains 80 problems encompassing every subject in mechanical engineering.”
After passing the test successfully, EIT’s become Professional Engineers and can add P.E. to their titles, similar to how a medical doctor can add M.D. Passing the test also results in a promotion and acceptance into the statewide peer group of engineers.
Jacob’s problem solving skills, perseverance and confidence are more than just a workplace trait. His “can do” attitude led him to achieve a feat not many people, except a senator or two, accomplish in their lifetime.
Getting the bill sponsored was a long process and a difficult task, but Jacobs found support from his elected representatives.
“Pat Vance’s office kept in touch with me and helped out the
most, although I did get responses from all three,” Jacobs said.
“The entire process took about 10 to 11 months.”
- by John R. Wharton, a free-lance writer residing in State College, PA. John received his B.S in English, with a concentration in non-fiction writing and minor in Labor Relations from Penn State in 2003.