1. Introduction The National Association of State Boards of Geology (ASBOG®) facilitates the coordination of individual State Boards responsible for licensing geologists. 28 states and one territory require licensure of geologists for professional geologic practice for the public. ASBOG® through its committees, evaluates and recommends guidance on issues of common interest to these boards. Included among these topics are:  Criteria for registration  Education  Work experience  Testing – preparation of national examinations as one way to measure minimum competency  Examination waivers  “Grandfathering”  Reciprocity Common aspects of geologic licensure laws  Protection of the public health, safety, and welfare;  Restriction of the practice of geoscience/geology to those either so designated and/or to those who have completed a appropriate academic requisites from an accredited college or university;  Restriction of practice of geoscience/geology to those who have passed competency examinations and have appropriate geoscience/geologic work experience. Generalized basic requirements for geologic licensure  A minimum of 30 semester hours or 45 quarter hours in geoscience/geological course work and a college degree in the geosciences/geology;  Passage of two nationally administered competency examinations (and, if required, state-specific or specialty examinations);  Completion of appropriate work experience supervised by a qualified registrant or licensee. Length of work experience required varies from state to state, but averages about 4 years. ASBOG® examinations:  Fundamentals of Geology (FG)  Practice of Geology (PG) ASBOG® examination workshops conducted twice yearly follow guidelines in the “Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing,” by the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Council on Measurement in Education. Goals of all workshops:  Maximize the fairness and quality of the examinations  Develop exams that reflect “state of the art” testing techniques Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), a committee of professional geologists, prepare and validate the examinations. These SMEs constitute the Council of Examiners (COE), a cross-section of geologists by geologic specialty, employment sector, and geographic area. This process ensures that the examination questions apply to a wide range of geographic regions and professional practice settings. The examinations and the examination process FG and the PG examinations are administered twice yearly on the same day across the US. These first were given in Oct, 1992. FG: 130 multiple-choice questions to test the examinee's basic, academic knowledge of geology, including geologic subject matter and interpretative skills. PG: 100 multiple-choice questions to test geologic knowledge gained from work experience. Subject matter content of examinations (% of questions) Content Domains FG% PG%  General Geology: Field Geology, 17 18 Geophysics, Imagery, Modeling, and Graphical Methods  Mineralology, Petrology, Petrography 15 4  Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, and 14 6 Paleontology  Quaternary Geology, Geomorphology, 10 5 and Surficial Processes  Structure, Tectonics, and Seismology 14 9  Hydrogeology and Environmental 14 22 Geochemistry  Engineering Geology 9 20  Economic Geology and Energy Resources 7 16 TOTALS 100 100 TOTALS 100 100 Observations 28 states and one territory have licensure related to the practice of geology for the public. More states are considering either introducing or re-introducing licensure legislation (e.g., Oklahoma, in January 2007; Michigan and Louisiana, in the near future). Tennessee has proposed changing its Title Act to a Practice Regulation. Based on the rate at which states are enacting licensure laws, by the year 2020 or earlier, all 50 states may have licensure. A number of colleges and universities have elected to use the Fundamental Examination (FG) as an Exit Examination as one element of undergraduate curriculum evaluation. Mississippi was the first state to use the FG as an Exit Examination for curriculum review and assessment. All of Mississippi’s universities and colleges offering four-year degrees in Geology use the ASBOG® FG as an Exit Examination for graduating seniors. Kentucky schools also use the FG as an Exit Examination. Other colleges and universities are considering this use of the FG. Students taking the FG as an Exit Examination appear to perform better if s/he has one or more of the following:  Attended field camp;  Taught physical or historical geology labs;  Historically has been a high-achiever in geological course work. Many state licensing boards have implemented a Geologist-in- Training (GIT) program. A GIT has a degree in geology and has passed the FG, but lacks the required geologic experience for becoming a Licensed Professional Geologist. Based on comments and observed practices in states with geologic licensure, the following trends have been recognized:  Employers of geologists are more likely to hire a geologist who is a Geologist-in-Training or a Licensed Professional Geologist.  Many employers are basing employee evaluations and advancement of their geologist employees on their current and/or potential licensure status. National Association of State Boards of Geology (ASBOG®) 1 examinations and the licensing of geologists John W. Williams 2 Department of Geology, San José State University, San José, CA 95192-0102 States and territories affiliated with ASBOG® Candidate success on examinations 1983 Thistle Landslide, Utah, the most costly U.S. landslide to date 2 Professor of Geology and Past President of ASBOG 1 www.asbog.org/