OAR 806-010-0145: Continuing Education

(1) In order to renew or reinstate an architect certificate of registration, the registrant must: (a) Complete 24 hours of continuing education in health, safety, and welfare (HSW) within the two year registration period prior to renewal or reinstatement. (b) If the previous registration period was the individual’s initial registration in Oregon, the continuing education will be considered satisfied. (c) If the continuing education is obtained after the renewal deadline, the late continuing education fee in 806-010-0105 will be required. (2) A continuing education hour (CEH) is defined as the amount of contact spent in a structured educational program. A program 15 to 29 minutes in length equals 0.25 CEH, a program 30 to 49 minutes in length equals 0.5 CEH, and a program 50 to 60 minutes in length equals 1.0 CEH. (3) If the registrant completes two or more courses having substantially the same content during the continuing education cycle, the registrant will only receive continuing education credit for one of the courses. (4) Making false statements or misrepresentations related to continuing education, or failure to comply with continuing education requirements, may result in disciplinary action. (5) All continuing education must be in architectural health, safety, and welfare (HSW) subjects, which are those technical and professional subjects deemed appropriate to safeguard the public and that are necessary for the proper evaluation, design, construction, and utilization of buildings and the built environment, including but not limited to: (a) Building Systems: structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, communications, security, fire protection. (b) Construction Contract Administration: contracts, bidding, contract negotiations. (c) Construction Documents: drawings, specifications, delivery methods. (d) Design: urban planning, master planning, building design, site design, interiors, safety, and security measures. (e) Environmental: energy efficiency, sustainability, natural resources, natural hazards, hazardous materials, weatherproofing, insulation. (f) Legal: laws, codes, zoning, regulations, standards, life safety, accessibility, ethics, insurance to protect owners and public. (g) Materials and Methods: construction systems, products, finishes, furnishings, equipment. (h) Occupant Comfort: air quality, lighting, acoustics, ergonomics. (i) Pre-Design: land use analysis; programming, site selection, site and soils analysis, surveying. (j) Preservation: historic, reuse, adaptation. (6) Continuing education may be audited to verify compliance with these requirements. Evidence of compliance must be maintained by the architect for a minimum of two years from the most recent date of registration or registration renewal in Oregon. If selected for audit, the individual architect must provide evidence to substantiate completion of the continuing education requirements. Acceptable evidence of completion is a certificate or transcript that includes the name of the course provider, registrant’s name, course title, completion date, and HSW hours received. (a) The Board will disallow any claimed continuing education hours submitted without acceptable evidence, and notify the individual architect of its determination. If, after excluding hours disallowed by the Board, the total hours the architect has submitted are insufficient to meet the requirements of this section, the architect must within 30 days from notice of such disallowance either provide acceptable evidence of having completed the continuing education hours or remedy the insufficiency by completing the required number of continuing education hours. (b) If the architect completes additional continuing education hours to remedy an insufficiency, the architect will be subject to a late continuing education fee as provided in 806-010-0105. Additional continuing education hours completed to remedy an insufficiency may not be applied to satisfy continuing education requirements in a subsequent renewal period. (c) If, in the Board’s determination, an architect has willfully disregarded the continuing education requirements of this section, or has falsified documentation of completion of required continuing education hours, the architect will be subject to disciplinary action by the Board. (7) The following activities do not qualify for meeting the continuing education requirements: (a) Time spent in unstructured programs or self-directed study. (b) Time spent on architectural educational tours of cities, buildings, or public places, unless there is a significant health, safety, and welfare (HSW) component to the tour curriculum. (c) Time spent in any teaching program sharing professional skills, such as the Architects in Schools program. (d) Time spent as a mentor. (e) Time spent serving on a board or committee. (8) An individual may be granted, at the discretion of the Board, full or partial exemption from the continuing education requirements if the individual submits acceptable documentation that one of the following exemption criteria has been met: (a) Honorable active duty military service during the registration period; (b) Medical hardship, which shall include health (certified by a medical doctor) or other good cause. The individual must provide any information requested by the Board to substantiate the hardship. [ED. NOTE: Schedules & Forms referenced are available from the agency.]