What is Professional Membership?

Anyone can be a member of our organization. Professional Membership requires three additional commitments: 

1. Application process: Professional Members submit an application that assesses their education, experience, independent thinking skills, and a comprehensive understanding of professional standards set by the organization.
   
   
2. Professional Development: Professional Members report a minimum of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credits that demonstrates how they have developed their skills, conducted outreach, and made contributions to the field in the last five years.
   
   
3. Accountability: Professional Members agree to practice within the Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Practice and maintain a minimum number of continuing professional development credits to maintain their designation. We will remove the designation from members who fail to either meet the minimum required professional development or who, after adjudication, we find do not uphold our Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Practice. For more information on the process for reporting ethics violations, see Process for Reporting Unethical Conduct .

Application Qualifications

Current individual AIC members can begin their application when they have:

• finished their training in either a formal graduate program or by some other means that has prepared them to practice at a professional level.

• demonstrated their ability to use acquired knowledge and skills to make independent decisions in a professional environment for at least two years post training.

• engaged with the field by collaborating with cultural heritage professionals, performing professional outreach, participating in professional development opportunities, maintaining membership in professional organizations, and/or contributing to the body of knowledge for conservation.

Identifying a Professional Member