Continuing Education Units

Maintain professional certification and licensure by being a lifelong learner through GSA.

The Geological Society of America (GSA) offers many opportunities for continuing education.

These opportunities provide Continuing Education Units (CEU) and/or Professional Development Hours (PDH), which are widely recognized units of measure for continuing education and training.
  • 1.0 continuing education unit (CEU) is defined as ten (10) professional development hours (PDH)  in an organized continuing education experience under responsible sponsorship, capable direction, and qualified instruction. Therefore, 1.0 CEU = 10 PDHs 
  • 1.0 professional development hour (PDH) is defined as one (1) contact hour of instruction or presentation (minimum of 50 minutes of contact per hour of time). Therefore, 1.0 PDH = 1.0 clock hour (minimum 50 minutes).

 

Continuing Education Opportunities through GSA

GSA offers CEUs and/or PDHs for taking or teaching short courses, participating in or leading field trips, attending or organizing conferences (including, but not limited to, Connects Meetings, Section Meetings, Penrose Conferences, and Thompson Field Forums), attending/leading webinars, attending/giving a presentation or lecture, publishing in GSA publications, reviewing/editing publications, mentoring, and serving on committees.

Obtaining Documentation

  • GSA Connects
    • Meeting: A certificate can be downloaded from the GSA Connects website after the conclusion of the event.
    • Short Courses and Field Trips: A certificate can be downloaded after completing the course or trip and submitting the online evaluation form.
  • GSA Section Meetings
    • Meeting: A certificate can be downloaded from the Section Meeting website after the conclusion of the event.
    • Short Courses and Field Trips: A certificate can be downloaded after completing the course or trip and submitting the online evaluation form.
  • Webinars
    • Most GSA webinars offer a certificate of attendance that is emailed to attendees within one to two days after they attend a live webinar.
  • Other Activities

Quantifying PDHs/CEUs

GSA Connects is a 4 day meeting and offers 0.8 CEUs/8 PDHs per day of conference attendance. Field Trips run one half day (0.4 CEUs/4 PDHs) to multiple days (up to 3.2 CEUs/32 PDHs). Short Courses are one half day (0.4 CEUs/4 PDHs) to two days (up to 1.6 CEUs/16 PDHs).

GSA Section Meetings usually last 2 to 3 days and offer 0.8 CEUs/8 PDHs per day of conference attendance.

Credit for teaching a short course, leading a field trip, or presenting in a webinar is provided at a rate twice that of participating/attending.

Each peer-reviewed publication (journal article, paper, geological map, book, textbook, etc.) provides 16 PDHs. Other publications, such as a blog post or article on GSA’s website provides 5 PDHs. The work must be published before PDHs can be issued.

For committee service, a maximum of 10 PDHs will be provided per year.

GSA rounds PDHs to the nearest half hour and does not offer PDHs for activities under a half hour.

Record-Keeping

It is the individual’s responsibility to maintain their own continuing education records and to submit such records to their certification/licensure board. GSA will maintain participation records for seven years, for the purpose of responding to requests from certification/licensure boards to verify activities.

Limitations & Exclusions

Please note that although GSA provides documentation of CEUs and PDHs, GSA cannot guarantee they will be accepted by all certification/licensure boards. GSA also cannot guarantee the rate at which CEUs and PDHs will be counted. It is the responsibility of the individual to determine what will be accepted by their certification/licensure board. For example, there may be limits on how many CEUs/PDHs from committee service can be used annually, or whether CEUs/PDHs can be earned by repeating an activity (such as teaching or taking a course). Some states, such as New York, may only accept CEUs/PDHs from specific, pre-approved organizations.

GSA does not offer CEUs/PDHs for self-study and other activities not conducted through or sponsored by GSA.

GSA does not offer college credit. If somebody wants to use GSA activities toward college credit, that needs to be arranged with their institution.

About GSA

Established in 1888, The Geological Society of America provides access to elements that are essential to the professional growth of earth scientists at all levels of expertise and from all employment sectors: academic, government, business, and industry. The Geological Society's membership unites thousands of earth scientists from every corner of the globe in a common purpose to study the mysteries of our planet and share scientific findings. Owing to its broad based, professional and long established scientific standing, GSA is well qualified to issue CEUs of the highest distinction for its professional development programs in fulfillment of its strategic goal, “to promote a robust, diverse, and sustainable professional geoscience community.”