8 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 46, No. 3 Featured Article • City of Springfield. • Oregon Dept of Transportation (ODOT). Community Colleges • Chemeketa Community College. • Clark Community College (CC). • Portland Community College (PCC). • Umpqua Community College (UCC). Universities • Oregon Institute of Technology (Oregon Tech). • Oregon State University (OSU). • Portland State University (PSU). • University of Portland (UP). Recommendations: It was fantastic to have such a broad coalition come together. With this breadth of knowledge and participation, subcommittees were formed, and numerous ideas and recommendations were generated over the two years the taskforce met. To get in front of the tsunami of retiring surveyors, we believe that PLSO and ACEC, working with industry, should lead the effort implementing the remaining recommendations and look for other ideas to get more people licensed in surveying, both now and in the future. Recommendations that have been implemented • The compensation for a licensed surveyor with similar education, experience, and training should be similar to that of a licensed engineer. • Typically, licensed surveyors make 15–20% less than a licensed engineer even though the liability of surveying is much higher than that of an engineer. • Given the shortage of surveyors, the compensation has naturally been rising due to competition in the job market. This should make it easier to attract folks into Surveying, however, it is important that wages increase at all levels of surveying to create incentives to bring entry level people into the profession. • Worked with OSBEELS and they implemented changes to provide more pathways to become a Licensed Surveyor (PLS). We want to thank OSBEELS for these changes which we believe are very beneficial! • Implemented an experience for education in a matrix form like what is in place for engineering. • Changed the experience only path from 12 years to 9 years. • Changed path of ABET Accredited B.S. in Land Surveying to include only three years of qualifying experience instead of four years. • Created a path for both engineering and survey A.S. degrees that have institutional accreditation and six years’ experience. • Created a path for ABET accredited B.S. Engineering degrees with no surveying coursework and six years’ experience. • Additional surveying coursework can substitute for experience. • Aligned curriculums between the community colleges and universities so that the classes from the community colleges transfer seamlessly to the universities for those who pursue a 4-year degree and with OSBEELS for licensure. In what may be a first for the region, the participating colleges worked collectively and with OSBEELS to align curriculums and learn how each can better support the others and their students for transfers and eligibility for licensure processes. The community colleges and universities have decided they want to continue to meet at a minimum of twice a year to continue to look for opportunities to work together. • Created a “one stop shopping” for companies to post surveying internship opportunities and for students who are looking for internships to post their resume on the PLSO website. • Schools agreed to work with students on their resumes and to get them posted. PLSO will mention this opportunity in their bimonthly newsletter to members. For a student to post their resume, they must be a member of PLSO. Student membership is $10. • If a student is volunteering at the PLSO conference, PLSO will register them for the conference and their membership is free. • If students are applying for NSPS scholarships, they must be a member of NSPS to receive one. The cost to join NSPS is $10. • If each school coordinates a group sign up for PLSO, PLSO will get them signed up with NSPS and provide the PLSO membership for free. • Modified Teaching With Spatial Technology (TWST) which is a workshop that has been used to show middle school (MS) and high school (HS) teachers how surveying can be included in their curriculum. • TWST is already developed for 4-day trainings that have been taught in the past. We pulled out the GIS part and reduced this to 1–2 day trainings that can be used by the colleges or the community colleges with MS and HS teachers. Can also be taught at teacher in-services for math teachers as professional development hours to keep their teaching license. • Coordinated with AGC on social media videos on TikTok and Instagram about Surveying • AGC connects with social media influencers through platforms like TikTok and others to create short videos to attract people to their professions. AGC has connected with at least one surveying influencer, “LadyLandSurveyor,” to create content on construction trades and surveying.o.https://www. tiktok.com/@ladyland_surveyor/ video/7167043572317932842. continued
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