ProperTreatmentof Degrees,Licensesand Credentials

1 48 |NAT ANEWS| 3there is variabilityand in co nsistencywith in the NATAco n-cerni ng the us e of abbreviations to sig nify deg rees,licens-es and cred me peo ple are usingcredentials imp ro perly,prob ablybecause of naivet ,whichreflectsbadlyon the individual andth e profe ss ion . Otherdiffer encesare a matterof ques tion of properpr es en tationof cr eden tials, degreesan d li cens es first arosewhentheJo urnalof Ath leticTrainingneededa polic y for han dlin g th e issuewith auth ors. At theti me, Kn igh t wasedito r of theJo urnaland wason th eAm erica n Collegeof Sp or ts Medicine s Cre den tialsCo mm itt ee, charg ed withrecommen dingho w the AC SM scred enti al sho uld be that experiencean d on acceptedusag e in aca -demi a, we offer the fo llowinggu idelinesin th e ho pe of elimi -natin g so me am bigu ity con cern in g how to prop erly treatdegrees,licen ses and cr st, the dif fe ren ces in th ese te rms mu st be explained.

2 degree has manymeanings and stemsfro m a multitudeof lan guag es. Its use in edu catio n originated in Old Fren chan d mea ns a step or ran k. It is a ran k givenby a college oruni versi ty to a student who has co mpleteda requ ired courseof st udy or to a dis ting uishedper son as an ho nor. Li cen se is fro m th e Latinwor dlicentia, meaning to bepermi tted . A lic ens e sign ifiesth at permission has beengrantedby a competentau tho rity (u suallya stategovern-men t) to en gag e in a bu sin ess or occu pationor in an activityth at othe rwis e is unlawful.

3 Creden tial comesfromthe Latinwo rdcredere, wh ichmeans to believeor pu t tr ust in. It often is used as a no unto ref er to th at whic h givescr edit, th at wh ich entitlesto cred -it, co nfi den ce, etc. It is a letteror certificategivento a personto sh ow that he has a right to co nfid enceor to th e exerciseofa cert ain pos itionor authority. Cred entialis fro m th e samero ot as c red ib le, wh ich meansone is believable, entitledtobeliefor tr ust, tr ustwo rthy, e termis usedby a cre -den tialin g ag enc y (suchas th e NA TA BOC)to in dicatethat theho ld er of th e cred en tial has passeda co urse of studyand/orexaminatio n ind icating they havemet established standardsof knowledge an d rees , lic en ses an d cr ed en tials are usedextensivelyinthe med ic al profession to help id en tify a person s trainingan dauth ority.

4 The com mon prac tice is to ab breviatethemfollow-in g yo ur nam e. Do yo u in dicateall degreesan d credentialsyou have ear ned ? Do yo u use th em with or with out per iods?Follo win g ar e reco mmen datio ns fo r usin g em ic degr ees sh ould be listedfirst, an d licensesthensh ould be wr itten befor e cr ed r example,writeMS,ATC, not ATC , MS. Som e peo ple are proud of th eir professionand wantto prom ote it by listin g its cred en tial first. Do ing sohas the opposite effectam ong tho se who under standproto-co l, however,bec au se it sign ifies th at the per so n has not beenpr oper ly ed e only th e hig hest acad em ic degree ,un less th ey are intotallydiffer en t field s.

5 Fo r in stan ce, a pers on with a bachelor sin healthor ph ysicaled ucationwh o obtainsa master sinph ys ic al ed ucationsh ould not use MS , BS. On e whohasearn ed an MS in clin ical psycholo gy an d a Ph D in epidemiol -og y, however,could use bo th initials,PhD, MS. The higherdeg ree should alwaysbe fir is not an academic deg ree, licen se or credentialandsh ould no t be used . So me gradu ate sch ools classifystud entswho havecom pletedall docto ral deg ree requ irementsexceptthe di sse rta tio n as ABD : All But Diss ert at ion . Gra dua tesc hools als o classifystu den ts as fu ll-timeor part-timestu -den ts.

6 Wou ld an yon e not th in k it silly if a pers on sign ed a let -ter Jos ep h Br own , FT S? ProperTreatment ofDegrees,Lic enses andCredentialsBy Ke nneth L. Kni ght , PhD , AT C, FA CSM;Ch ad Starkey, Ph D, ATC;andChris In ge rso ll , Ph D, ATC,FA CSMED UCATION CO UNCILEXE CUTIVE CO MMITTEEUPD ATE49 |NAT ANEW S| 3 Abb revi ate degrees, licensesan d cre -dent ials withoutthe per iod s (AMAM anual of Style, sec ti on ),un lessspe cifie d ot he rwis e by the grant ingag ency .Lis t de gr ees fir st, licensesnextandcrede ntia ls la st: JaneSnow,PhD, LA T,ATC.

7 Manyat hlet ic tra iner s who are bot hlic ens ed an d ce rtifiedha ve usedATC/Lor LA TC. The fo rmer,however, impliesth at cert ification is mo re impo rtant thanli cen sure,whi ch is notthe ens ure pr ovidesa legalright to prac -tic e, whilecert ification sim ply sta tes th ata profe ssio na l bo dy has deemed thatyour know ledg e and skillshaveexceed-ed a minimal addi ti on, ap pen ding th e AT C cre -denti al by /L is not corr ect. Many stateshave in ap pro priatelyallowedLAT toalign th eir lic ens e to th e AT C, but th ismod ifi es a regis ter ed mark.

8 If bo th theli cens e and credential ar e used , th eysh ould be lis ted sep ar mo re than one crede nt ia l is us ed , li stth em in the orderof di ffi cu lt y of obt ain-in g th em. For ins tan ce , ATC sho uld bewrittenbeforeEM T, beca us e the ATCcr ed en tial req uire s a co lle ge deg re e an dtwo to thr ee year s of cl in ica l exp er ie ncewh ereasth e EM T cer ti fica tion ha s nodegreereq uiremen t an d less th an 200clo ck hour s of co urse work and clin icalexperien ce com bine crede ntialsar e of similardif ficul -ty, list themin chro nologicalorder. Thiswouldbe the case for som eone wit h bothPT and ATC cr ede ntials,beca use bothreq uir e a degr ee and hav e sim il arrequ ire men ts for numberof coursesandhours of oper tr eatm ent of deg rees, licen sesandcre dent ials is im portantto ou rcr ed ib ility as in divid uals an d as a pro -fes sio n.

9 Tak e th is oppo rtun ity to reviewthe gu id elinesan d mak e su re all busi -nes s card s, letter head an d oth er itemslistin g yo ur nam e an d background areco rrec n Kn igh t ca n bere ached at ken_knight@ byu .ed u. Chad Starke y ca n bereached at chadn ata com. Ch ri sIn ger so ll canberea chedat inger-soll@vi rginia .e UC ATION COU NC IL EXECU TIVECOMMITTEEUPD ATE