Public Programs

NCA event about Martin Luther King Jr image

NCA organizes and participates in a number of programs that serve to disseminate relevant information about communication to public audiences. These programs are open to community members, members of the media, Communication teachers and students, and anyone interested in learning more about the Communication discipline's relevance to current and emerging issues.

 

Upcoming Program

Please check back for information on the next Public Program.

Most Recent Program

This virtual public program titled, Creating Space for All: Communicating about Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access in Our Classrooms and on Our Campuses, was held on Monday, April 25, 2022. During this program, panelists explored best practices for communicating about and advancing inclusion, diversity, equity, and access in the classroom and across campus.

Moderator

LaKesha Anderson

LaKesha N. Anderson, Ph.D., Director of Academic and Professional Affairs, National Communication Association

LaKesha N. Anderson is the Director of Academic and Professional Affairs at NCA and teaching faculty in the MA Communication program for Johns Hopkins University’s Advanced Academic Programs. Prior to joining NCA, she taught at Indiana State University and George Mason University. Anderson teaches courses in health communication and risk and crisis communication. Her primary area of research is strategic health and medical communication, with a special interest in women’s health and medical education. Anderson has numerous publications and serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Communication Pedagogy. She has received several teaching and research awards. 

 

Panelists

Cherney

James L. “Jim” Cherney, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Director of the Communication Core, Department of Communication Studies, University of Nevada, Reno

James L. “Jim” Cherney is Associate Professor and Director of the Communication Core in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. His primary area of research is the rhetoric of ableism, particularly as it operates around access, sport, visibility, and popular culture. Cherney has published in such outlets as the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Western Journal of Communication, Disability Studies Quarterly, and Argumentation and Advocacy. His book Ableist Rhetoric: How We Know, Value, and See Disability, was published by Penn State University Press in 2019. 

 
Marnel Niles Goins

Marnel Niles Goins, Ph.D., Dean, College of Sciences and Humanities, Professor of Communication, Marymount University

Marnel Niles Goins is Dean of the College of Sciences and Humanities at Marymount University. She has taught courses in Small Group Communication and Organizational Communication and has a special interest in leadership, as well as gender and racial dynamics in organizational settings. Niles Goins has numerous publications and serves on the editorial board for Women’s Studies in Communication. Niles Goins is Second Vice President of the National Communication Association and Immediate Past President of the Western States Communication Association.

 
Melissa R. Meade

Melissa R. Meade, Ph.D., Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, Villanova University

Melissa Meade is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Communication at Villanova University. She has written and researched across media studies, critical/cultural communication, digital media and community engagement, and language and social interaction. Her work bridges the gap between virtual and offline ethnography and highlights the counternarratives that residents of the Anthracite Coal Region of Northeastern Pennsylvania tell about the lived experiences of deindustrialization. Meade has received numerous awards for her research including the 2020 Constance Coiner Award in Working Class Studies, the 2020 Best Dissertation Award from the National Communication Association’s Ethnography Division, and the Donald P. Cushman Memorial Award from the National Communication Association.

 
Elizabeth Parks

Elizabeth S. Parks, Ph.D., Associate Dean of Academic Affairs & Student Services, Colorado Mountain College Leadville

Elizabeth S. Parks is Associate Dean of Academic Affairs & Student Services at Colorado Mountain College Leadville. Her scholarship is grounded in the belief that our individual, organizational, and community well-being is enriched by bravely pursuing spacious listening from our own intersectional standpoints while attuning closely to the diversity and difference of others. Parks is the author of the book, “The Ethics of Listening: Creating Space for Sustainable Dialogue.”