NCA Inside & Out

CSCA

This year, the Central States Communication Association (CSCA) inducted three scholars into the CSCA Hall of Fame. Congratulations to Shelly Schaefer Hinck (Central Michigan University), Patrice Buzzanell (University of South Florida), and Mitchell S. McKinney (University of Missouri) on this special recognition! Each of them will be able to present their speeches at the 2021 Convention in Cincinnati. 

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ECA

Calls for Nominations:

Editor, Communication Quarterly 

Eastern Communication Association (ECA) members are invited to submit nominations or self-nominations for Editor-elect of Communication Quarterly, Volumes 70-72 (2021-2023). All candidates who meet the membership requirements set forth in the ECA Constitution, Article III and the Bylaws, Article IV, are eligible to apply. Communication Quarterly is published five times per year.

Nominees should be able to secure institutional support for this position, including financial support, administrative support, and release time as appropriate. Nomination materials should include:

• A letter of application
• Copy of current vita
• A letter of institutional support
• Three letters of recommendation

Review of applications will begin April 30. Nomination materials should be sent electronically to:

Katherine S. Thweatt, ECA President, at katherine.thweatt@oswego.edu. 

Social Media Director

ECA members are invited to submit nominations or self-nominations for Social Media Director (term: immediately – Convention 2023). Nominees must hold and maintain current membership in the Association.

The Social Media Director should have a deep knowledge of a wide variety of social media platforms and activities, including an understanding of how to engage, listen, and monitor communities on each platform. Duties expected of this role include:

• Curate, write, and publish content for ECA’s social media platforms, engaging with and managing, if necessary, any comments that are left by our audience;
• Develop social media strategies across platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram;
• Use social media analytics tools and interpret results;
• Build social media strategies for key events, including for the annual ECA Convention;
• Organize, manage, and mentor a team of university/college students to develop and implement a social media strategy for the annual ECA Convention;
• Provide regular updates and postings to each platform leading up to and throughout the Convention;
• Work closely with the Executive Council, conference planner, and membership to develop and manage creative content;
• Manage access and privileges to the social media accounts, including usernames and passwords for each account; and
• Develop bi-annual social media reports to share key findings and actionable insights for the NCA and ECA conferences.

Nomination materials should include:

• A letter of application
• Copy of current vita
• Three letters of recommendation

Review of applications will begin April 30. Materials should be sent electronically to:

Cheryl Casey, Ph. D., ECA Executive Director, at ccasey@champlain.edu. 

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Call for Submissions: 2021 Eastern Communication Association Conference

Hyatt Regency Cambridge, Massachusetts
Wednesday, March 24 - Sunday, March 28, 2021

Resilience

Submission Deadline: October 15, 2020 11:59 (PST)

Our vision for the 2021 ECA conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is to engage “Resilience” thoughtfully as a persistent response to overcoming obstacles, thriving despite challenges, and adapting to an ever-changing global landscape. As we are embedded in a historical moment marked by “wicked problems,” we look forward to the opportunity to explore resilience for global communities and share possibilities for teaching, research, civic engagement, and in our professional and personal endeavors. We recognize that inherent within resilience are conflict and struggle. However, from this discomfort, resilience brings a power and a responsibility to share with the larger global community.

As we respond to global concerns ranging from climate change and terrorism to concerns within higher education and our discipline, we find resilience in ways that attend to both the community and the individual. Despite the challenges we face in our classrooms, on our campuses, and in the world, we have a choice to preserve what is available and find opportunities for growth.  

Viewed as a symbol of American culture and history, Cambridge, our conference location, stands as an icon of resilience. Prior to the colonial era, this region was home to the Algonquin people who cultivated the land that was conducive to growing their crops. The tribe’s resilience allowed them to nurture the land while facing disease and tribal warfare. When 700 Puritans arrived in 1630, they developed a thriving community and in 1638, renamed the town after Cambridge, England.

Cambridge is part of the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts and situated on the North Bank of the Charles River. Known as the “City of Squares,” Cambridge is home to fine dining, eclectic shopping, theaters, museums, and historical sites.

Some historical milestones include the following:

• Cambridge is considered the birthplace of the American Revolution.
• Cambridge is home to Harvard, the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, which held its first commencement in 1642.
• The first Massachusetts Constitutional Convention met in Cambridge in 1779–80.
• Cambridge was the site of the first printing press and the first books printed in America.
• Cambridge is home to the first and most complete public transit system.
• Cambridge was one of the first places to integrate schools.
• Cambridge’s Main Street was once referred to as Confectioners Row, featuring candies that we know as Junior Mints, Charleston Chews, Sugar Daddies, and NECCO wafers.
• Cambridge was the site of the first Fig Newtons that were made in 1891.

Our Cambridge convention and the “Resilience” theme encourage us to learn from what the city has to offer Communication scholars. We invite ECA interest groups and members to develop programming for the 2021 convention that focuses on “Resilience” across communication contexts and the ways that we…
 
Share Resilience
Communicate Resilience
Foster Resilience
Initiate Resilience
Find hope in Resilience
Inspire Resilience
Make sense of Resilience
Celebrate Resilience
Critique Resilience
Learn Resilience
 
Our hope is that through the conference experience, we will contribute to the ongoing “Resilience” conversation and reveal our persistence as we respond to the challenges of the 21st century.

Amanda G. McKendree
First Vice President
University of Notre Dame
amckendree@nd.edu

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SSCA

SSCA Elections

The election results have been certified and Tina M. Harris from Louisiana State University is SSCA's 2nd Vice President-Elect. Congratulations to Tina Harris!

Thank you to Brigitta Brunner from Auburn University for her candidacy, longtime membership, and service to SSCA.

SSCA members have elected Patrick Bennett of Midlands Technical College to be the association's 2-Year College Representative to the NCA Legislative Assembly. Congratulations to Patrick Bennett!  

Thank you also to candidates Elizabeth Hanson Smith and Ray Harrison for their willingness to stand for election and their ongoing membership in, and service to, SSCA. 

SSCA Podcast

The newest SSCA podcast is now live on YouTube and on the SSCA webpage. Continued thanks to Dave Nelson for its production and content.

SSCA Association Awards

Caroline E. Sawyer, University of South Carolina Beaufort
Dwight L. Freshley Outstanding New Teacher Award

Todd Lee Goen, Christopher Newport University
John I. Sisco Excellence in Teaching Award

Lyndsey Susan Aloia, University of Arkansas
Janice Hocker Rushing Early Career Research Award

Srividya Ramasubramanian
Outreach Award

Annebelle Klein
Franklin Shirley Award

Richard Cherwitz, University of Texas at Austin
Michael M. Osborn Teacher-Scholar Award

Louisiana State University Manship School of Mass Communication
Minority Recruitment and Retention Award

Timothy Ryan Worley, Penn State University and Lyndsey Susan Aloia, University of Arkansas
Rose B. Johnson SCJ Article Award

Nakia Welch, San Jacinto College
Suzanne Osborn Community College Award

Sean Patrick O'Rourke, Sewanee: The University of the South
J. Donald Ragsdale Mentor Award

Roseann Mandziuk, Texas State University
T. Earle Johnson-Edwin Paget Distinguished Service Award

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WSCA

The Western States Communication Association (WSCA) would like to offer our full support to the other regional Communication associations that had to cancel or postpone their annual conferences this year due to COVID-19. Though disappointing, we hope you are able to find other ways to connect with each other, share ideas, and support the great work you are doing. Sending healthy wishes across the world. 

WSCA would also like to acknowledge our 2020 award winners:

Distinguished Teaching Award

• Erin Willer

Model Comm Program Award

• Dept of Communication, Mt. San Antonio College

Distinguished Service Award

• Paul Mongeau

Distinguished Scholar Award

• Kent Ono

Fisher Award

• Gretchen Bergquist, Jordan Soliz, Kristen Everhart, Dawn O.Braithwaite, and Lee Kreimer

Fisher Award

• Nicholas S. Paliewicz

Executive's Club Debut Award

• Taylor L. Weigel

Undergrad Scholars Research Conference

Top Paper Award

• Zoe N. Jackson

Top 4 paper awards

• Angelica Sofia Pena
• Natalie Katherine Olsen
• Molly Bishop

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New York State Communication Association

New York State Communication Association 2020 Conference Contingency Planning

Statement from the Executive Council

We hope that this message finds you healthy and safe during these strange times. As this ongoing global public health crisis unfolds, we would like to update you about the New York State Communication Association 2020 conference contingency planning.

On April 3, 2020, the New York State Communication Association Executive Council held a virtual semi-annual business meeting on Zoom in place of the in-person meeting scheduled at the Eastern Communication Association conference. The NYSCA 2020 conference planner, Noura Ahmad Hajjaj, SUNY New Paltz, reported that the annual conference venue, Villa Roma Resort and Conference Center, has been closed since March 15, and travel is highly inadvisable to and from Sullivan County as per the statement issued by local public health officials. Prior to its closure, the Villa Roma Resort and Conference Center reported no COVID-19 cases on its premises due to its aggressive sanitary measures.

Keeping the severity of this pandemic in mind, the Executive Council has agreed to NYSCA 2020 conference contingency planning in case the Villa Roma Resort and Conference Center does not re-open by October. Even as we remain hopeful to see you all, we will continue to follow the guidelines of the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in relation to mass gatherings and travel in October 2020.

With regard to contingency planning, the NYSCA 2020 conference planner, Noura Ahmad Hajjaj, is in the process of exploring several virtual conferencing platforms, and a special planning subcommittee will test these shortly.

While we recognize that a virtual conference might be a difficult decision, given that the physical presence and mingling of attendees at the NYSCA annual conference is an irreplaceable experience, we are determined to adjust and plan according to the circumstances as they might present themselves in October.

The featured keynote at the NYSCA 2020 conference, Nicholas Bowman of Texas Tech University, has agreed to livestream his Friday address in case of a virtual conference. He has also kindly agreed to deliver his Saturday short course in mass communication and media entertainment at no additional cost to NYSCA members online. We are still waiting to hear from the Saturday keynote speaker, Jasbir Puar of Rutgers University.

The Executive Council of the New York State Communication Association will continue to seek ways to best support our valued membership during these unprecedented times. In this spirit, we voted to cover the electronic subscription cost of the Atlantic Journal of Communication for returning regular NYSCA-NJCA members and NYSCA life members who attend NJCA annual conferences on a regular basis, and we agreed to  keep the early bird rates of faculty membership at $50, graduate student membership at $31.25, undergraduate membership at $12.50, and NYSCA-NJCA membership at $31.25 for the duration of the conference registration period.

Given the severity of the pandemic, the submission date for the NYSCA 2020 conference has been extended to July 1, 2020. For CFP, Keynote information, and short course details, please consult our webpage.

We will continue to update you throughout the planning process. In the meantime, feel free to reach out to the 2020 convention planner, Noura Ahmad Hajjaj, at nysca2020@gmail.com with any queries.

Sincerely,

2019-2020 Executive Council

Noura Ahmad Hajjaj, Vice President and Primary Convention Planner (SUNY New Paltz)

Christina Knopf, Vice President Elect (SUNY Cortland) 

Ari Kissiloff, President (Ithaca College) 

Heather Maloney-Stassen, Immediate Past President (Cazenovia College) 

Douglas Strahler, Chair of Nominating Committee (Slippery Rock University) 

Michael Plugh, Nominating Committee (Manhattan College) 

Corey Liberman, Nominating Committee (Marymount Manhattan College) 

Evelyn Plummer, Treasure and Acting Secretary (Seton Hall University) 

Rebecca Kern, Director of Sales and Fundraising (Manhattan College) 

Tyler LaCarruba, Director of Web and Social Media (Fordham University) 

Arshia Anwer, Community Manager (Manhattan College) 

Thom Gencarelli, Editor in Chief (Manhattan College) 

Jason Wrench, Archivist (SUNY New Paltz) 

Jessica Crowell, Recording Secretary (SUNY New Paltz) 

Donna Flayhan, Member at Large (SUNY New Paltz) 

Christine Hirsch, Member at Large (SUNY Oswego) 

Robin Levenson, Member at Large (LaGuardia Community College) 

Amy Bubb, Student Representative (Cazenovia College) 

Yvette Sterbenk, Executive Secretary (Ithaca College)