STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

GREGORY W. ISPHORDING, )

)

Petitioner, )

)

vs. ) CASE NO. 89-1865

)

DEPARTMENT OF PROFESSIONAL )

REGULATION and BOARD OF )

PROFESSIONAL GEOLOGISTS, )

)

Respondents. )

)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

On May 30, 1989, a formal administrative hearing was held in this case in Tampa, Florida, before J. Lawrence Johnston, Hearing Officer, Division of Administrative Hearings.

APPEARANCES

For Petitioner: Gregory W. Isphording, pro se.

8819 Orange Oaks Circle Tampa, Florida 33637

For Respondent: Clark R. Jennings, Esquire

Department of Legal Affairs The Capitol

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1050 STATEMENT OF THE ISSUES

The issue in this case is whether the application of the Petitioner, Gregory W. Isphording, for licensure as a Florida professional geologist should be granted. Specifically, since the Petitioner seeks licensure without examination and must have been eligible for licensure on the basis of his qualifications at the time of his application, it is critical whether the Petitioner's work experience while pursuing his undergraduate degree in geology qualifies as work experience for purposes of licensure.

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT

The Petitioner, Gregory W. Isphording, seeks licensure as a professional geologist under Section 492.105(2)(c), Florida Statutes (1987), which permits licensure without written examination if an application meeting all other requirements, and in proper form, is made by September 30, 1988. The parties agreed on the record of the final hearing that the statute required all of the Petitioner's qualifying experience to have been accumulated by September 30, 1988--i.e., experience since the filing of the application may not be considered for purposes of this application. These circumstances make the work experience that the Petitioner accumulated between May, 1979, and May, 1984, while he was

pursuing his undergraduate degree in geology critical to his application. With the experience, he qualifies for licensure; without it, he falls short of the experience requirement by just over a year.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. On or about August 30, 1988, the Petitioner, Gregory W. Isphording, applied for licensure as a Florida professional geologist without written examination under Section 492.105(2)(c), Florida Statutes (1987).

   
   

2. The Petitioner has an undergraduate degree in geology (as well as some credit towards a master's degree). He also has 3.9 qualifying years of work experience in the field of geology since earning his undergraduate degree.

   
   

3. The Petitioner's work experience while he was pursuing his undergraduate degree between May, 1979, and May, 1984, was unusual. His father, Dr. Wayne C. Isphording, a Florida licensed professional geologist and a Ph.D. and professor of geology at the University of South Alabama, which the Petitioner was attending, employed his son in his firm, Tierra Consulting, Inc. Through this unusual opportunity (and even before that, as a result of being raised in the home of a geology professor), the Petitioner had opportunities for valuable practical learning and experience not available to many other geology students. He was trained under the direct supervision of his father in drilling, sampling and analysis techniques. When the Petitioner became proficient in these techniques, his father began to supervise him less and rely more and more on the Petitioner to perform these tasks accurately and effectively. By approximately May, 1980, at the end of the first year of his employment, the Petitioner's father began to rely on the Petitioner to train other students employed by Tierra Consulting. The Petitioner's employment continued through May, 1984, when he was graduated with a degree in geology.

   
   

4. During his undergraduate years, the Petitioner worked full-time for his father's firm, working an average of 50 hours a week. Although his grades suffered as a result of his long hours, the Petitioner was convinced that the experience he was receiving in the field was more important than his grades and would land him a better, more responsible, and higher paying job. His work experience is indeed impressive for an undergraduate. It includes topographic and geologic surveying of a mine site in the Boqueron Valley in the Republic of Panama, assisting in field and laboratory analyses on the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers environmental assessment of D'Olive Bay, Alabama, environmental and geologic and topographic investigation of a SMACKO Drilling Corp. oil well site in southern Mobile County, Alabama, and responsibility for topographically mapping a portion of the Three Mile Creek flood plain for use in connection with litigation against the City of Mobile.

   
   

5. During his employment in his father's firm during his undergraduate years, the Petitioner also had the opportunity to collaborate with his father on, and coauthor, several abstracts presented at meetings of various professional associations. (These were not published papers in the strict sense in that they did not undergo the lengthy, rigorous critical review associated with formal published academic papers.)

   
   

6. Despite the Petitioner's impressive work experience, he was unable to prove that he was involved in the synthesis and application phases of the work of a professional geologist. His was more the work of a technician; his father was available to synthesize and apply the data that his son collected. In this sense, the Petitioner's relationship with his father was much like the

   relationship between a master craftsman and his apprentice. To the extent that he did participate in the synthesis and application of the data he collected, it appears that his participation was in the nature of private study under the tutelage of a college professor. As such, his work was an adjunct to his formal education. Although the Petitioner's knowledge and understanding of geology increased over time during his undergraduate years, it was not proven that the Petitioner was in a position to engage in the synthesis and application required of one who assumes the role of a geologist working under the supervision of a licensed professional geologist (analogous to a journeyman working under the supervision of a master) before his formal education was completed.

   
   

   CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

   
   

7. Section 492.105, Florida Statutes (1987), provides in pertinent part:

   
   

   (2) The department shall issue a license to practice professional geology to any person who has:

   * * *

   1. Been certified by the board as qualified to practice professional geology; and

   2. Passed the written licensure examination; provided that applicants meeting the other requirements of this section may be licensed without written examination if application is made in proper form within 1 calendar year of October 1, 1987.

   
   

   The Petitioner made his application for licensure under the "grandfather clause" of Section 492.105(2)(c), and the parties agree that the legal implication of the Petitioner's choice is to require him to have met all of the other requirements of Section 492.105 as of the time of his application.

   
   

8. Section 492.105(1)(e), Florida Statutes (1987), requires, in pertinent part, that an applicant for licensure as a Florida professional geologist must have "at least 7 years of professional geological work experience, which shall include a minimum of 3 years of professional geological work under the supervision of a licensed geologist . . . ." It also provides: "Credit for undergraduate study, graduate study, and graduate courses, individually or in any combination thereof, shall in no case exceed a total of 2 years toward meeting the requirements for at least 7 years of professional geological work."

   
   

9. In this case, the Petitioner has two years of qualifying experience by virtue of his undergraduate degree and advanced degree work and has 3.9 years of qualifying work experience after receiving his degree. (The parties agree that the legal implication of the Petitioner's choice to proceed under the "grandfather clause" of Section 492.105(2)(c) is that work experience after the filing of his application does not count.)

   
   

10. It is concluded that the Petitioner's work experience at Tierra Consulting, Inc., from May, 1979, through May, 1984, while impressive and certainly valuable, does not qualify as professional geological work experience under Section 492.105(1)(e), Florida Statutes (1987). Professional geological work experience, as contemplated by the statute, must include the type of synthesis and application of data that is performed by one with the knowledge one acquires through the formal education process of earning a geology degree.

While the Petitioner's work with Tierra Consulting was skilled and responsible, according to the evidence it did not go beyond the use of sample collection and analysis techniques. The Petitioner's work experience was that of a skilled technician, not that of a professional geologist, the role performed by the Petitioner's father. To the extent the Petitioner may have participated in the synthesis and application of the data he collected for the firm, the process was more akin to the experience of a student under the tutelage of a college professor, as an adjunct to his formal education, than to the work of a professional geologist. Having been given two years of credit for his formal education, the Petitioner is not entitled to any more under Section 492.105(1)(e), Florida Statutes (1987).

RECOMMENDATION

Based on the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, it is recommended that the Board of Professional Geologists enter a final order denying the application of the Petitioner, Gregory W. Isphording, for licensure as a Florida professional geologist.

RECOMMENDED this 28th day of June, 1989 in Tallahassee, Florida.

J. LAWRENCE JOHNSTON Hearing Officer

Division of Administrative Hearings The DeSoto Building

1230 Apalachee Parkway

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1550

(904) 488-9675

Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 28th day of June, 1989.

COPIES FURNISHED:

Gregory W. Isphording, pro se 8819 Orange Oaks Circle Tampa, Florida 33637

Clark R. Jennings, Esquire Department of Legal Affairs The Capitol

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1050

Allen R. Smith, Jr. Executive Director Board of Professional

Geologists

1940 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0750

Kenneth Easley, Esquire General Counsel

Department of Professional Regulation

1940 North Monroe Street Suite 60

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0729

Docket for Case No: 89-001865

Orders for Case No: 89-001865