Education/Professional Development Committee
Chair: Paul Karas, CPG, CHMM

The Education/Professional Development Committee organizes the annual CHMM review course and certification exam. To volunteer or obtain more information, contact our Education/Professional Development Committee Chair at .

MEMBERS ONLY:

Calendar Year 2008 CHMM Essentials of Hazardous Materials Management Course

CHMM EHMM: Monday-Wednesday, November 17-19, 2008

A major update is now available through ACHMM to the "Hazardous Materials Management Desk Reference." Roadrunner Chapter strongly recommends this book as a broad-based reference, and we have provided it to participants in our annual CHMM exam review class. A must-have for the informed CHMM or CHMM-aspirant.

July 2007
Paul Karas, CPG, CHMM
Chair, NMSHMM Education Committee

As summer begins some of your colleagues were already busily planning for an important fall event; the annual NMSHMM offering of the National Overview Course (NOC). Hard-working members of the NMSHMM Education Committee have initiated the organizing and scheduling, developing announcements, identifying instructors, and a myriad of other tasks necessary for another successful course. This annual event is important not only to those hazardous material professionals who participate in the multidiscipline refresher, but also to NMSHMM and to our professional community. This year's NOC is scheduled for October 10-12, 2007.

The NOC is based on material developed by the ACHMM using the "Hazardous Materials Management Desk Reference" as a source and outline. During three days of instruction, qualified professionals with specialized knowledge and experience provide participants with a comprehensive review of environmental laws and regulations, basic and applied hazardous materials management principles, and relevant aspects of science and technology. The NOC represents an excellent cross-training opportunity for hazardous materials professionals with a strong technical background whose careers have focused on a more narrow range of the business. It is designed also to assist individuals in preparing to take the Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (CHMM) national certification examination administered by the Institute of Hazardous Materials Managers (IHMM).

The IHMM CHMM program is accredited by the Council of Engineering and Scientific Specialty Board (CESB), an independent, voluntary organization that recognizes, through specialty certification, the expertise of individuals practicing in engineering and related fields. The CESB accredits numerous other professional certification programs including the Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH), Certified Safety Professional (CSP), and Diplomat of Environmental Engineering (DEE). Over 5000 CHMMs nationwide enjoy the professional recognition of federal agencies including the US Air Force, Army Corps of Engineers, National Park Service, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), governments of several states, and private corporations such as electric power utilities, TRW Corporation, Boeing, Delphi, and General Motors.

NMSHMM relies on the NOC as a principal fundraiser, as outlined in our annual operating plan and budget. Income from the course helps fund our newsletter publication, sponsorship of local and regional science and engineering fair awards, and subsidies to help cover the cost of our field trips, annual meetings and other events. A well-run and well-attended course is important to all involved.

You too can be involved in this endeavor! Pitch in to help the Education Committee with the NOC planning effort. Consider enrolling in the course yourself or encouraging others in your organization to do so. If you or others you know have specialized expertise in a particular area, be it Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Clean Air Act (CAA), Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), toxicology, health physics, or other applicable field, consider volunteering to teach a NOC module. Look for the NOC link on www.nmshmm.org, or contact me () for more information. We look forward to your participation in October!

July 2006
Larry A. Watson, CHMM
Committee Chair

NOC Planning is Underway - Volunteers Needed

The "kickoff" meeting for NMSHMM's October 25-28, 2006 ACHMM National Overview Course (NOC) and Certified Hazardous Materials Managers (CHMM) Exam offering took place at the University of New Mexico on Monday, June 26. The "Call for Instructors" letter was finalized and approved (click here to view the PDF version), as was the related electronic distribution list. I would like to once again thank all of our volunteer instructors from past courses and urge them to contact me via email once again to express their interest in this year's course as well. Once selected, new instructors will be offered a copy of ACHMM's "Hazardous Materials Management" desk reference and returning instructors will be offered a different but substantial gift. At our next meeting scheduled for Monday, July 17 at 5:15 pm, we will finalize the course brochure, as well as the related electronic distribution list, and also deal with a host of other planning issues. We would like to have a number of volunteers rise to the occasion so we can make this a true NMSHMM team effort. Please let me know if you are willing and able to contribute in any way, even via email. I hope to see you all at our next meeting!

December 2005
Larry A. Watson, CHMM
Committee Chair

The CHMM National Overview Course (NOC) was held Wednesday through Friday, October 26-28 at the University of New Mexico with the CHMM Exam offered Saturday morning, October 29. The course was a great success with 22 students in attendance and most all agreed that the course provided a very high "return on investment" for their $595 registration fee. Also, 19 people sat for the CHMM Exam and 18 of these were course students. I will soon learn what the pass rate was for those students taking both the course and the exam. From 2001-2004, the pass rates for NMSHMM Overview Course students were 100%, 100%, 82%, and 83%, respectively. This is well above the historical national pass rate of ~70%, and many of us believe that the quality of our course is primarily responsible for this success rate.

I want to wholeheartedly thank several individuals for their outstanding contributions toward the success of this course - Kelly Bowles; who coordinated food & refreshments; Linda McCormick; who proctored the CHMM Exam and also served as a course moderator, Darlene Moore; who coordinated student mailings plus IHMM textbook orders; and finally Quatro Baker, Paul Karas, and Vern Hershberger, each of whom served as course moderators. I would like to also thank committee members Quatro Baker, Ron Jones, Paul Karas, Kelly Bowles, and Eric Johnson for their support in the course planning process.

Additionally, I want to thank all of our great instructors who so generously donated their time and talents, without whom the course would not have been even remotely successful _ Cyndi Backlund, Quatro Baker, Dave Barber, Michael Brown, Sam Cudney, Jim De Zetter, Bob Edgar, Vern Hershberger, Candice Jierree, Paul Karas, Janet Kerley, Byron Kesner, Tony Ladino, Vicki Maranville, Linda McCormick, David Paulson, Brian Pence, Anita Reiser, Gary Smith, Richie Spangler, Lowell White, and Julia Whitworth.

While the subject is still fresh in your minds, now is a good time for you to be thinking about dedicating some of your time toward next year's course. We certainly want to keep the annual course-offering going, and it would be most unfortunate if NMSHMM were forced to offer the course bi-annually instead (or not at all!) due to a lack of volunteer support. We do really need additional help from dedicated environmental professionals like you, so please let me know if you are interested in helping us, and I will put you on our email distribution list for next year's course offering.

As we enjoy the holiday season, each of us should reflect on the rewards that we have experienced as a result of our professions and think about giving something back through our professional societies, especially NMSHMM, who are much in need of our time and talents!

December 2005: Improved CHMM Recertification Web Site Records
Eric Johnson, CHMM, Communications Committee Chair

At the past ACHMM Conference in St. Louis, the ACHMM Chapter Development Committee discussed the importance of having complete and concise documents for CHMM recertification. NMSHMM provides information for recertification on our web site. During the next few months, Debbie Finfrock and Eric Johnson will be looking at improving the CHMM recertification records database. Specifically, we will look at developing a year-end summary that documents officers, committee chairs, general and board meeting attendance, and Certification Maintenance Points (CMPs) for attending field trips and technical sessions at general meetings. Each field trip or technical session counts as 0.125 CMPs. If you have any recommendations on how to improve our CHMM documentation, please send an e-mail to Eric Johnson at . Information on recertification can be found in the CHMM Recertification Manual Policies and Practices available from the Institute of Hazardous Materials Management (phone: 301-984-8969 or web site: www.ihmm.org).

September 2005
Larry A. Watson, CHMM
Committee Chair

The fall 2005 CHMM National Overview Course is scheduled for Wednesday through Friday, October 26-28, on the UNM South Campus in the Rotunda of the University Research Park North building located at 801 University Blvd. The CHMM Exam will be offered on Saturday, October 29, at 8:30 am in the same location. For directions, look up building #339 in the campus map located at http://www.unm.edu/campusmap.pdf.

We currently have about five students signed up and, based on the level of interest we have experienced from emails and phone calls, we expect to see many more doing so during the next month. At this time, it appears that we now have sufficient volunteer primary instructors for this year's course. However, if anyone is interested in serving as a "backup" instructor, we urge you to .

The newest version of the CHMM National Overview Course was just released by ACHMM, and we plan to send out electronic instructor notifications, with PowerPoint presentation slides, in early September. Also, due to a delay in the release date of the new 2005 edition of the ACHMM's "Hazardous Materials Management Desk Reference" (http://www.achmm.org/resources/book_deskref1.php), " we will instead be issuing students a copy of the 2002 edition of the Institute of Hazardous Materials Management's (IHMM) "Managing Hazardous Materials" (http://www.ihmm.org/dspIhmmTextbook.cfm ). Stay tuned for more details!!

March 2005 News
Larry A. Watson, CHMM,

The spring 2005 CHMM Exam is now scheduled for Friday, April 22, at 8:30 am on the UNM South Campus in the Executive Conference Room (#201) of the University Research Park Center building located at 851 University Blvd. For directions, look up bldg.#332 in the campus map located at http://www.unm.edu/campusmap.pdf.

The fall 2005 CHMM National Overview Course is now scheduled for Wednesday through Friday, October 26-28, on the UNM South Campus in the Rotunda of the University Research Park North building located at 801 University Blvd. The CHMM Exam will be offered on Saturday, October 29, at 8:30 am in the same location. For directions, look up bldg.#339 in the campus map located at http://www.unm.edu/campusmap.pdf.

We are in need of instructors and volunteers to help coordinate the fall course offering. Now is a good time for each of you folks who are reading this article to be thinking about dedicating some of your time toward this course since four of the five “core” members are growing weary after so many years of continued effort. We certainly want to keep the annual course offering going and it would be a shame if NMSHMM had to offer the course bi-annually instead (or not at all!!) due to a lack of volunteer support. We do really need additional help from dedicated environmental professionals like you, so please let me know if you are interested in helping us and I will put you on our e-mail distribution list for this year’s course offering. I promise your volunteer efforts will be painless and we will not overwhelm you with more work. If you are interested in helping your Society out in this time of need, please contact me directly at .

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