50 Years of HRCI

This month marks a special moment in HRCI’s history ─ 50 years since our initial founding. That’s right. In 1973, we were established as the ASPA Accreditation Institute (AAI), and since then, we have had the opportunity to play a critical role in credentialing over half a million professionals. In recognition of this, I want to share some key milestones from HRCI’s history:

• 1976 – AAI administers the first HR exams
• 1990 – AAI changes its name to HRCI
• 1996 – Michael Enzi, PHR, becomes the first HRCI-certified professional to join the U.S. Senate, representing the state of Wyoming
• 2001 – Launches HRCI.org
• 2004 – Debuts computer-based testing, introduces the GPHR exam
• 2006 – Introduces the PHRca exam
• 2008 – PHR and SPHR earn the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) accreditation
• 2010 – Develops new international certifications, now known as PHRi and SPHRi
• 2015 – Publishes The Rise of HR, featuring insights from Dave Ulrich, Bill Schiemann, Libby Sartain and other industry thought leaders
• 2016 – GPHR and PHRca earn NCCA accreditation
• 2017 – Publishes A Guide to the Human Resource Body of Knowledge (HRBok), introduces the aPHR exam
• 2017 – PHRi and SPHRi earn NCCA accreditation
• 2018 – aPHR earns NCCA accreditation
• 2018 – Introduces the aPHRi exam
• 2020 – Becomes the first HR organization to debut the online delivery of HR certification exams
• 2020 – Launches the Alchemizing HR webinar series, attracting thousands of attendees from around the world every week
• 2021 – Introduces the HRCI Learning Center with 97,000+ hours of on-demand learning on critical HR topics and opportunities to earn recertification credits and certificates
• 2021 – American National Standards Institute (ANSI) appoints HRCI as the International Secretariat for the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee (TC) 260 on Human Resource Management
• 2022 – Launches the Human Resource Standards Institute (HRSI) to offer organizational certifications

And that’s to name a few. At HRCI, we’re just getting started. In our first 50 years, we helped credential HR professionals, politicians, lawyers, academics and leaders like you and built a tremendous community together. We’re better today because you’ve been a part of it. There’s much more to come, so please stay tuned. We’ll be celebrating this momentous occasion over the next year. Celebrate with us!  

As a token of appreciation, we’re offering 15% off learning courses until the end of September with the code DEVELOP.

Keep on learning, 

—Amy Dufrane, Ed.D., SPHR, CAE

HRCI CEO 

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