55 California Registration Act. The Sanitarian published the act in its original form along with current requirements for admission to the examination and recommendations from the NAS Legislative Committee on drafting and securing registration legislation. While not changing the major functions of the Board of Examiners, the Association did change its name to "Department of Registration" in a bylaws revision in 1952. Other changes in registration required each section "to elect a member to act as sec tional representative to the Department of Registration.'' In 1953, the Department of Registration authorized new standards for Registered Membership. Upon passing a written examination, applicants were granted Certificates of Registered Membership. Before this time, the certificate was Certificate of Registration (as Sanitarian). Further 1953 action rescinded the waiver of examination and established a nominal application fee. Other official sanitarian examinations (Civil Service or states' registered sanitarian examinations) allowed Registered Membership by reciprocity after meeting certain requirements.
In again clarifying the difference between state legislated and national registration, an article in the May/June issue of The Sanitarian cited this example:
A Sanitarian in Oregon who paid a registration fee to the Board of Sanitarians and took and passed a registration examination for Oregon was legally able to use the R.S. credential in Oregon; whereas, if a Sanitarian in Oregon paid a registration fee to the National Associa tion of Sanitarians and met certain educational and experiential standards, or took an exam in lieu of this background, that person was a Registered Member of the National Association but could not use the R.S. in Oregon unless he first registered there.
Within four years of the 1953 revisions, the Department of Registration again pro posed higher educational and experiential requirements, raising the minimum college level to bachelor's degree with a minimum of 30 semester units in basic sciences and minimum years of field experience to two (except that special training by the U.S. Public Health Service OR a master's degree in public health or sanitary engineering was accepted in lieu of experience). These proposed standards were not accepted, however, and the outcome resulted in the requirement of one year experience in the field of environmental sanitation along with a bachelor's degree as proposed and satisfactory completion of an examination in basic sanitation as prepared by the American Public Health Association. In an editorial in the November/December 1957 issue of The Sanitarian, A. Harry Bliss argued that this action would halt the progress toward professional development and that the ''unique organized body of knowledge which differs from any other discipline" should be developed into a sanitary science ending in a doctoral program of research. He said that for such high goals, higher standards needed to be set and ''the sooner the better.'' Bliss' influence was strong, and in 1958, the NAS Department of Registration, Board of Directors, and Executive Committee concurred on establishing new requirements effective June 1, 1958. The new requirements were more specific and restrictive, call ing for "...a bachelor's degree with academic work in the sanitary, physical and biological sciences and satisfactory completion of an examination administered by the Department of Registration. Course content and not course title were the criteria for acceptance of academic units. •
Powered by FlippingBook