Action Required: Reset Your NCA Grant Portal Password

On January 21, the National Communication Association launched its new member portal. If you updated your NCA Member Portal login credentials on or after January 21, you must reset your Grants Portal login information to match.

If you have not logged into the NCA Member Portal since before January 21, you can use your current NCA password to log in.

Grant Funded by The Dale G. Leathers Memorial Fund to Promote Communication Studies in Emerging Democracies

The Leathers Fund, named after past NCA President Dale Leathers, is designed to support Communication studies to benefit emerging democracies.

Call for Proposals

  • Proposals are being solicited that promote scholarship and teaching of Communication Studies to benefit emerging democracies and their peoples. Any activity which contributes to this goal is potentially eligible for funding. Such activities include (but are not limited to).
  • International travel for residents of emerging democracies to attend conferences or advanced training in Communication Studies
  • International travel for U.S. residents to disseminate Communication scholarship or to conduct training in Communication Studies in emerging democracies
  • Procuring and disseminating scholarly and instructional materials in Communication Studies for use by institutions within emerging democracies
  • Research about various topics in Communication conducted by residents of emerging democracies who would otherwise lack adequate support for such research
  • Research about communication phenomena in emerging democracies, which may be conducted by U.S. scholars or by others, and which promises to directly or indirectly promote effective communication practices

The amount of the Leathers Award varies from year to year; it recently has been about $800.

All submitters must be NCA members at the time of submission and maintain their membership throughout the grant period.

Officers, directors, trustees (the Legislative Assembly and its Executive Committee), key employees, substantial contributors or employees thereof, or grant selection committee members are not eligible to receive grants from NCA.

Proposals will be reviewed and funded on an annual cycle. If the Trustees deem that no satisfactory proposals have been received in a particular cycle, or if the Trustees deem that available funds are insufficient to justify an award during a given cycle, no award need be made.

Funds are disbursed to identified fiscal agents, not to individuals.

  • Proposals should not exceed 10 pages and must include the following information in the single PDF document:
    • A rationale for considering the target nation an emerging democracy
    • A statement of methods or listing of activities, depending on the nature of the proposal
    • A statement of expected outcomes and their relationships to the purpose of the grant
    • A statement explaining how this project aligns with NCA’s strategic plan
    • A statement of the intended use of monies provided by the grant
    • An abbreviated, three-page CV of all applicants, to include the submitter/PI and any co-PIs.

Help for Grant Seekers

Applicants are strongly encouraged to view and utilize NCA’s resources for composing and submitting grant proposals. Click here to view these resources.

All grant recipients are required to follow the reporting requirements outlined in NCA’s Assessment Protocol and follow the NCA Promotional Activities and Sponsorship Acknowledgment Policy.

Applicants should consult with their institution’s Office of Sponsored Programs (or similar grants office) to review the NCA Funding Assessment Protocol and the NCA Promotional Activities and Sponsorship Acknowledgment Policy. Failure to secure the institution’s guidance prior to submission can significantly delay, or prevent, grant awards.

  • NCA must be acknowledged as a sponsor of NCA funded events and projects. The NCA
    logo must be on all official correspondence related to an NCA funded event or project as
    well as any public documents, reports, or publications.
  • At the discretion of the Executive Committee, with advice from the Finance Board,
    “National Communication Association” should be incorporated into the official title of
    NCA funded events, especially when NCA is the sole or majority sponsor.
  • At NCA sponsored events, NCA should be acknowledged in public remarks (e.g.,
    welcome remarks, keynote address introductions, luncheon) and the NCA logo should be
    displayed in a prominent location(s).
  • NCA will work with event and project organizers to plan and execute pre- and
    postevent/project promotional plans, as appropriate, which use various NCA
    communications channels.
  • NCA will place event/project information on the NCA website (http://www.natcom.org)
    if appropriate. Relevant text and graphics must be sent to NCA by event/project
    organizers in a timely fashion. If a website other than the NCA website is created or used
    for an NCA funded event or project, NCA will place the URL link on the NCA website.
    Relevant information must be provided by the event/project organizer. If a website other
    than the NCA website is created or used for an NCA funded event or project, that website
    must post the NCA logo in a prominent location as well as a link to the NCA website.
  • Event registration materials should include information about NCA and how to join the
    association as well as a cover letter on NCA letterhead from the NCA President and/or
    Executive Director welcoming participants and thanking them for participating in an
    NCA funded event. Please request your letter from NCA’s National Office when you are
    putting together relevant materials.
  • Event organizers must provide NCA with contact information for event participants with
    the understanding that NCA may contact them in the future to solicit a membership to
    NCA.
  • Unless alternative arrangements are made in advance, all products, publications, and
    other works or results are the property of NCA and, as such, the copyright is owned by
    NCA. These items can be licensed for use by the original authors with the written
    permission of NCA.
  • Event/project organizers must write a news-style article about the event/project once it is
    completed. It should be submitted to NCA’s Director of Academic and Professional
    Affairs for dissemination to members through appropriate channels.
  • Somewhere in the materials for an event or a project, the following language should
    appear and should be made known to the participants:

      • During the course of this conference, I acknowledge that I may have my voice,
        likeness and/or actions captured in photograph, video and/or audio recordings. As
        a condition of my attendance at this conference, I agree to irrevocably grant to the
        National Communication Association (“NCA”), its assigns, licensees and
        successors the right to video, photograph, publish, record, broadcast, exhibit,
        digitize, display, copyright, license, transfer, reproduce, translate, modify, edit or
        otherwise use perpetually throughout the world, in all media now and hereafter
        known or devised, in whole or in part, my image, likeness, voice, name and
        actions in audio and video recordings, photographs and materials prepared by
        and/or disseminated by NCA.

For questions about NCA grant programs, please email the NCA Research Department.

About Dale G. Leathers

Dale G. Leathers, who died unexpectedly in May of 1997, was a respected scholar, teacher, and leader within the field of Communication Studies. Among other leadership posts, Professor Leathers served as President of the Southern States Communication Association, as Head of the Department of Speech Communication at the University of Georgia, and, in 1992, as the 78th President of the National Communication Association (NCA, then known as SCA).

His particular vision during his presidency and service on the NCA Administrative Committee was to facilitate outreach of U.S. Communication scholars and teachers to international colleagues, especially those residing in nations in which the field of Speech Communication was not yet well understood or developed. He devoted his most intense efforts to promoting Communication Studies in the nations of the Russian Federation, as he was convinced that to do so would nurture the slender foothold democracy had achieved among the peoples of those lands.

Toward that end, Professor Leathers was able to visit Russia on two occasions, the second time as Co-Chair of the First International Communication Research Colloquium. At the time of his death, Professor Leathers was editing the proceedings of that conference for joint publication in Russian and English. As a proper and fitting memorial to the life and work of Dale G. Leathers, therefore, this fund to promote Communication Studies in emerging democracies was established.