Contents

Opportunities
It Took Two Countries
Call for Papers: 2000 Annual Convention Sacramento
2000 WSCA Distinguished Service Award Nominations
1999 WSCA Distinguished Service Award:  David Natharius
Model Teaching Program Award
Editors and Executive Director Searches
WSCA Brochure Design Competition
Editor's Notes

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OPPORTUNITIES

Dennis C. Alexander, WSCA President

Over the years I have had many opportunities to talk and write to many of our members. However, this is a first for me as the President of the Association; so forgive the normal hesitancy of an "initial interaction." I do want to say I am very honored at the chance to serve the association is another way. I do hope that many of you find the rewards I do in working with the BEST regional association in communication.

Several opportunities present themselves to you in this newsletter. Dawn Braithwaite is beginning to plan the Sacramento convention; and a good one it will be. The call for workshops, convention panels, and competitive papers provides you the means to participate in the convention. Elsewhere, search announcements for a new editor for Communication Reports, Executive Director, Archivist, and editor for Western Journal of Communication are other ways of serving the Association. The call for the newly designed Model Teaching Program Award is another way to serve the association by spotlighting a truly innovative teaching program in either public education or community colleges. Convention participation, four or five new appointed officers of association, and a redesigned teaching award give all member a variety of opportunities to the work with WSCA. I hope many of you take the invitation to participate as fully as possible in the continued success of our organization.

Beyond the formal ways of working with our association, several other opportunities present themselves. I encourage you to act as a mentor for students and new colleagues. We are at our best when we share our academic opportunities and open them to as many people from as many diverse populations as possible. Admittedly, I am a true believer, but I think WSCA provides us rich opportunities to serve the association, one another, and our discipline. Please join with me in taking advantage of Western States Communication Association's opportunities.

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It Took Two Countries:
Convention Report 1999

Dennis C. Alexander, WSCA President

Last year Peter Andersen said "it took a village" to host and plan the 1998 convention in Denver. For the 1999 convention in Vancouver B.C., it took two countries to host the convention. Geographically, it took the expanse of the USA; we had program planners scattered from California to Georgia (with one planner in France for the summer and connected by fax).

The theme of the convention was well received and many planners had programs planned around "Connections: Communication and Ecology." The Pre-conference on Greening the Discipline was well attended and produced a resolution to have our association be more aware and caring of our decisions related to the physical, social, and cultural environment. Panels and papers examined: romantic connections, classroom connections, connections of same sex relationships, cultural connections, connections of forensic and rhetorical scholarship, Disney as ecosystem, ecofeminism, the ecology of HIV, the ecology of faculty work, and the ecology of nuclear weapons sites to name a few which focused on the theme. I truly appreciate the work of all the program planners in making the convention so diverse in content and safe as a place for the challenge of ideas. Sally Perkins, Ken Salter, Veronica Duncan, Elaine Lee, Melissa Beall, Sandra Petronio, Doug Fraleigh, Gust Yep, Lisa Flores, Melanie Trost, Lee Buxton, Christina Beck, Karen Huck, Cindy Griffin, Deborah Dunn, Karen Rasmussen, and Mark DeLoach were the best program planners and so gracious and so punctual. Thank you all!

Larry Richardson led a group of talented and energetic local hosts. The Northwest logo design on the t-shirts, registration, audiovisual equipment, minor crises and more were handled with aplomb. All convention goers owe the local hosts a special thank you for the success of our convention.

The business of the association was also accomplished. The Executive Council meetings were long but productive. Of the 19 people on the council, eight will be new at the November meetings; we are well served by the many who volunteer their time to do "the business." Pamela Kalbfleisch had the opportunity to chair one of the more spirited and lively Legislative Assemblies in recent years. She allowed all people and points of view a hearing as we debated the issues. Thanks to Pam for managing so well.

Where would WSCA be without the fun and spirit that so dominates our times together? Thanks to Robin--the zest of the sock hop goes on and on. We also skied, played, ate, drank, partied, did the receptions, and had a generally great time.

And the numbers: we had over 700 people on the program, 154 programs and workshops, over 1,000 rooms nights sold at the Hyatt, and more than 600 official registrations.

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2000 WSCA Distinguished Service Award:  Nominations

Paul Mongeau

The Western States Communication Association's Distinguished Service Award honors persons who have made considerable and long-lasting contributions to WSCA and the discipline of Communication. Previous award winners can be found at the WSCA website. The 1999 award winner was David Natharius. The WSCA Distinguished Service Award Committee seeks nominations, which should include a detailed listing of the nominee's accomplishments (and/or a vita) and one or more letters detailing the nominee's contributions to WSCA and the discipline. Past nominee materials may also be updated. Nominations should be received no later than December 1, 1999.

Direct questions and nominations to the committee chair:

Paul A. Mongeau, Department of Communication, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056. Phone (513)529-7413; fax (513)529-1268; e-mail: mongeapa@muohio.edu

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WSCA Distinguished Service Award 1999:
David Natharius, California State University Fresno

Walter R. Zakahi, New Mexico State University, Chair DSA Committee

Speech Delivered at the Western States Communication Association Convention Vancouver, February 21 1999.

My membership in this association dates only to 1991. But like many of you I have come to anticipate this wonderful ceremony of ours. Like many of you I have listened carefully each year to see if I can guess who will receive the Distinguished Service Award. Like many of you I have found the recitation of each recipient’s accomplishments and contributions inspiring and like many of you I am grateful that our association has benefited from the dedicated service of this cadre

This award honors our history as an association. This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the Distinguished Service Award. On behalf of the membership I would like to thank all of the previous winners of the award for their contributions to the association. I know some of the previous winners are with us today. Could you please stand so that we may once again acknowledge your service to WSCA?

This award also inspires many of us to work for the future of WSCA. It is a pleasure to provide service to an organization that makes a point of remembering the hard work and dedicated service of its membership.

I am honored to have the opportunity to tell the membership about this year’s recipient of the Distinguished Service Award.

This year’s recipient first presented a paper at WSCA, then the, Western Speech Communication Association, when I was 10 years old; I just turned 43, you do the math. In fact, that was the first paper our recipient presented to any professional conference. I guess it got to be a habit, if you check the WSCA programs for the last 30 years you will almost certainly find her--- or his name on the program and yes, a quick look at this year’s program also reveals the recipient’s name. This person’s more than 30-year history of presentations at WSCA reflects an unparalleled commitment to our association.

This person took on recruiting new members to WSCA and to its leadership with a missionary’s zeal. Several of the letters in support of this nomination mentioned that the recipient recruited them to join WSCA and later encouraged them to provide service to WSCA by becoming officers of the association.

One letter writer describes how the recipient stayed with him throughout a WSCA showing him the ropes at one of his first conventions. That letter writer currently serves in a WSCA office. Another letter writer notes, "It was, the recipient, who for years sang the praises of the association and whetted my appetite for getting to see what Western was about. And the recipient was right. It was an experience to attend Western." This person was successful in adding new members to the association –one at a time. Why work so hard to draw new membership? A colleague of the recipient tells me that our recipient’s professional identify can be summarized with the letters W, S, C and A.

Several of the letter writers comment on this person’s abilities as a mentor, their mentor in the profession, their mentor at the University and/or their mentor within the association. Mentor seems to be an important part of this person’s identity. HE remains an important part of his students’ lives even though HE recently retired. I understand that earlier this year HE returned to his University (a trip of hundreds of miles) to take a group of graduate students to a conference.

As you would expect he has been heavily involved in the leadership of this association. He chaired the old Behavioral Science Interest Group and helped to usher in the changes that generated that interest groups progeny, the interpersonal communication, organizational communication, and communication theory interest groups.

HE served as the local host for the association when the conference came to his community--twice. While I question his sanity for this move, he again volunteered, in fact he insisted on serving as local host when the convention was held at a cite far from his home. One of his colleagues tells me that he swore not to retire until he could serve as local host for WSCA’s convention in Monterey California.

The San Diego conference for which he was the primary program planner was the best attended conference in our history. He was, of course, President of WSCA in 1988 and 1989. This person continues his service to the association even as I speak to you about him. He currently serves as president of the WSCA Executive’s Club.

On behalf of the association it is my pleasure to present the WSCA Distinguished Service Award to David Natharius of California State University Fresno.

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Model Teaching Program Award: Call for Nominations

Lisa Flores

The Model Teaching Program Award Committee is seeking nominations for an award to be presented at the next Western States Communication Association meeting in Sacramento, CA (February 15-19, 2000). The award may be given to one or more speech or communication programs from either elementary, secondary schools or community colleges based on the following criteria:

• The program should reflect the breadth and depth of the communication discipline.
• The program should have teaching personnel with specialized training in communication.
• The program should integrate curricular and co-curricular activities.
• The program should have strong administrative support.
• The program should relate to the mission of the particular institution.

The nominations should include at least two letters of support (one of which should be from the site, the other should come either from a former student or from someone outside the program) which detail the program's success in meeting the above criteria. Additional supporting documents, such as descriptions of course curriculum and innovative teaching methods, are welcome. The deadline for nominations is October 1, 1999. The nomination committee will make selections in October. The recipient(s) should be prepared to present a panel on the Model Teaching Program at the Sacramento Convention.

Nominations should be sent to Professor Lisa A. Flores, Department of Communication, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112. Questions regarding the award and/or the nomination process can be directed to Lisa Flores at (801) 585-1887 (office) or Lisa.Flores@m.cc.utah.edu (e-mail). Other members of the evaluating committee are Margie Long, Marilyn M. Shaw, and Karen E. Zediker.

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Editors and Executive Director Searches

The search processes have begun for three key WSCA positions. Nominations or applications for Editor of Western Journal of Communication (deadline December 15, 1999) and for Editor of Communication Reports (deadline September 1, 1999) should be sent to the chair of the Publications Committee, Dr. Michael Salvador, Washington State University (salvadom@mail.wsu.edu).

Nominations or applications for Executive Director of WSCA (deadline September 1, 1999) should be sent to Peter Anderson at San Diego State University (peterand@mail.sdsu.edu).

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WSCA Brochure Design Competition

The Western States Communication Association announces a contest for the design of a contemporary WSCA Association brochure cover.  Three copies of camera ready design for an 8.5"x11" 2- or 3-fold brochure cover must be submitted by September 13, 1999, to Connie J. Conlee, WSCA Executive Director, Dept. of Communication, California State University, Fresno, Fresno, CA 93740-8027; conniec@csufresno.edu.  The winner will receive one free night at the convention hotel in Sacramento, free convention luncheon & registration, and recognition at the luncheon.  The decision will be made by the WSCA Executive Council at its November meeting in Chicago.

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Editor's Notes

by John A. Cagle

Our hope to make the newsletter a useful tool for WSCA and our members to communicate with one another. There is also a print version mailed to members.

The website version, WSCA News on the Web, has "late-breaking" news between the print editions, and it is of course in color. If members or interest groups have webpages of interest, we can put links on our homepage to them.

WSCA News generally comes out three times a year: April, October, and February--not exactly a calendar year, but facilitative of our convention schedule. Material is cordially invited, especially scatalogical humor or anecdotal narratives or germane editorials, although reports on the activities and vicissitudes of our interest groups and members may well be more appropriate. The October deadline is about September 16th, my birthday.

Comments and suggestions to me, johnca@csufresno.edu, are welcome, either for the print or electronic versions of the WSCA News.

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Link to WSCA Homepage