Those Letters
After Your Name By JAMES R. BENYA, PE, FIES, FIALD
These days, it seems like every other person has a string of initials after their name. I sure do. James R. Benya, PE, FIES, FIALD. And I used to have LC until I failed to submit enough evidence of continuing education. I probably receive 10 emails a day signed by someone with their own string, whether they are an interior designer, architect, or just about any other type of professional in their workplace. These initials are called post-nominal letters (PNLs). They are the letters placed after a person's name to represent a qualification they have achieved. The most popular postnominals represent academic degrees (i.e. EdD, PhD, MBA) and certifications (i.e. LC, CLD). They may also include professional membership (i.e. IES) and recognition or significant awards (i.e. FIES, FIALD). The lighting design industry arose from the perceived need to have expertise in lighting expressed in a manner such as architects (AIA) and engineers (PE) do. But the initials must stand for some accomplishment such as becoming a registered architect, which is generally signified by the letters RA (registered architect) or AIA (American Institute of Architects member, which must be a registered architect). 22
designing lighting
For this among many reasons, the Iighting industry has struggled to come up with appropriate PNLs. Those reasons include the need to differentiate between lighting designers, lighting manufacturers, lighting salespersons, lighting consultants, lighting systems programmers … you get the picture. Memberships with objective qualifying criteria seem to make the most sense right now. For instance, using IES or MIES (member of IES) does not indicate a lighting academic or professionally-licensed qualification. Fellow IES (FIES) is different; becoming an IES Fellow is an award based on a peer review of one’s technical accomplishments in the field. You can’t just get there because of organizational political officeholding. In 1987, I wrote an article in Architectural Lighting entitled “Should Lighting Designers be Licensed?” In summary, I posited that first, the lighting design profession would be better served by a certification program in order to avoid the legal issues of licensing. Among the ideas of many others, the IES and IALD led the lighting industry in the 1990s to create a certificate program managed by the National Council on Qualifications for the