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The Newsletter of the Western States Communication Association www.westcomm.org April 2002 Volume 29, Issue 2 Editor: Stephanie J. Coopman, San Jose State U Assistant Editor: Deborah H. Rosengarten, San Jose State U In this issue: President's Column | Membership News | Distinguished Service Award Recipient | A Thank You to WSCA Members | 2002 Election Results | From the Immediate Past President | Seeking Convention Hosts | CFN: Model Teaching Program Award | CFN: Distinguished Service Award | Lost Heirloom | CFP: 2003 WSCA Convention | 2003 Convention Program Planners   From the President's Desk Katherine Adams, CSU, Fresno We all left Long Beach, California the same way we arrived: with plenty of sunshine. Many shared with me favorable impressions of workshops, panels, special events, and our keynote address. Next year's convention is in Salt lake City, Utah, and Connie Bullis is already lining up an event itinerary sure to challenge us as well as entertain us. A huge thank you goes out to Sandra Petronio for her guidance of WSCA as President. She cares deeply about our association and I know her service to us will continue long after her official duties are over. Second, Mary McPherson and the faculty of Long Beach State should be commended for their hard work. Christina Derme's convention planning course allowed numerous students to take part‹they were all over the place in those bright yellow t-shirts making sure our convention ran smoothly. Many people commented on the wonderful participation of students at this conference. The staff at the Westin took extra efforts to meet our requests and provide a beautiful setting for us. A very special thanks to my assistants Sabrina Ballard and Mike Martine; both made my life so much easier. Our interest group planners worked hard to provide programs that we would enjoy and their efforts paid off. More than one person told me some of the panels were the best they had ever experienced. A special thank you also goes to Sue Pendell, Executive Director, for the way she carefully guides our association and helps with these conferences. Congratulations goes out once again to Lynn Wells our Distinguished Service Award winner. Lynn has long history of service to WSCA and helped rescue our association during particularly hard times years ago‹thank you Lynn. Congratulations to Dale Cyphert, this year's Fisher Award winner. WJC is an outstanding outlet for publications because of articles like hers. As we turn our attention to Salt Lake City, Utah, for 2003, the Executive Council would like you to remember a few things. First, we have one deadline next year for all conference submissions: August 15, 2002. Second, please make plans to stay in the Marriott hotel because WSCA loses money when our attendees stay elsewhere. Third, we need everyone's help in increasing our membership. Be thinking about ways you and your departments can bring in new members and renew old memberships. WSCA Membership News Sara Hayden, 2nd Vice President Like me, many of you recently returned from WSCA's 2002 convention in Long Beach, CA. The annual convention is one of the highlights of your WSCA membership. In Long Beach, we had the opportunity to attend the basic course pre-conference, participate in workshop, attend Judy Shepard's keynote address, and share our research in the many panels and roundtable discussions, as well as golf, visit the sites, chat with colleagues at social events, and dance the night away at the Sock Hop. With membership in WSCA you also receive two high-quality journals and are kept up-to-date on WSCA news through this newsletter and our listserv. At $40 for regular members, $20 for student members, and $30 for retirees, membership in WSCA is a worthwhile investment. I need your help with our annual membership drive. WSCA's ability to continue providing a forum for high quality scholarship and professional interaction depends upon our maintaining and increasing our membership base. So please pass the word along to those who might not know about WSCA or to those who may have let their memberships lapse. Tell them about the stimulating conversations you had in Long Beach, remind them about the wonderful scholarship that appears in our journals, and encourage them to join WSCA. Make sure that your school has a departmental membership. Think about sponsoring that promising student in your undergraduate or graduate class. Consider becoming a life member. Joining, renewing, and upgrading membership has never been easier. Just click onto the website at www.westcom.org and use the online membership form. WSCA 2002 Distinguished Service Award Recipient: Lynn K. Wells, Saddleback College Presented by William W. Wilmot, U of Montana, WSCA's 2001 Distinguished Service Award Recipient The Distinguished Service Award is Western's highest honor. I am pleased to be the one to tease you about the winner this year. Our recipient exemplifies the best of Western, but before we get to that I would like to give you a sense of the quality of people this award honors. Would all the previous winners please stand and be recognized. Our selection committee this year, Stephanie Coopman, Dawn Braithwaite and Blaine Goss have done an outstanding job for us, as you will soon learn. Our winner this year has spanned the entire gamut of service to our association. He, or she, has been President, Program planner, has chaired two different interest groups, and served on the Finance Committee as well as the Executives Club as an officer. And, oh, the number of hours spent in Executive Council meetings alone could be an entire career in itself. As if that isn't enough, this particular person has also served SCA and NCA in a variety of positions and has chaired his or her department for many years. In fact, and this is hard to believe, the person actually served as chair of two departments! Let me put it this way‹you would not want to be in a competition with her or him for service contributed to our profession. But it has been here at home, at WSCA, where he or she has been, as one Past President said, "loyal and active" for many years. Other than a small detour for one year to someplace in the Midwest, the person has spent his or her entire professional career, as a student and as a faculty member, in the western states. And the tone of the service has been characterized as follows: "calm, efficient, detail-oriented but always gracious "amazingly cheerful and positive" "moving decisively with good humor, upbeat manner and personal charm" "performing brilliantly, moving quickly" "an academic and an inspired teacher" Of all the contributions, one stands out particularly sharply. It is something that has taken on the quality of an urban legend‹except it is true. During a time when our organization was literally on the verge of collapse, the officers had to band together and try to rescue the organization. Our finances were so muddled and unattended to that the very existence of WSCA was threatened. We needed someone to step in and take over as Executive Secretary. Here is how three officers characterized what our award recipient did. "took on a time consuming, frustrating and aggravating job" "was an enormous force in addressing the needs of the members, inspiring confidence and getting alienated members to return" "allowed me as the next president to avoid commanding the Titanic on its last sail" "saved this organization" It is my deepest pleasure and honor to highlight the person who took an entire car trunk full of unattended WSCA business and put us back on the right track, serving with incredible dedication and competence. If it were not for her, we could not be here today. Give your thanks to Lynn Wells of Saddleback Community College. A Thank You to WSCA Members When I was young, my friends gave me a surprise birthday party. It was the only time in my life that I can recall being truly surprised by an event other than the surprise at this year's WSCA convention in Long Beach. Because I don't remember what I said to the convened group at the luncheon and because I think I might have burbled far too much in my stumbling impromptu ways without giving thanks, I wanted to be able to more appropriately thank everyone in the membership for this award. To me the Distinguished Service Award has been a golden ring grabbed by the most prolific writers, the golden fleece acquired by the most dedicated researchers, the golden crown worn by the most daunting of Doctors at only the most prestigious of universities. It is because this has always been described as the highest award that WSCA as an organization gives, that I value having received it. I want to sincerely thank the persons who nominated me for the Distinguished Service Award and for the committee who voted for me. As I looked around the Long Beach convention, I was struck by the many new faces I saw. What pleases me is to think that the organization survives, grows, changes, and in many ways stays the same. I am so proud of being a member of this organization, proud of having given my time to it, and so very humbled to be honored by it. ~Lynn Wells Results from the 2002 Election Congratulations to our new: First Vice President, Ron Lustig, San Diego State U; Second Vice President, Sara Hayden, U of Montana; and Delegates-at-Large to the Legislative Assembly Natalie Dollar, Oregon State U, Susan Messman, Arizona State U, Kate Motayoma, San Mateo College , Bill Sharkey, U of Hawaii at Manoa, Leah Wyman, CSU, Long Beach. Greetings from WSCA's Immediate Past President Sandra Petronio, Wayne State U Thank you President Kathy Adams for such a fine job! We were lucky to have Mary McPherson and Sharon Downey as local hosts! We also benefited from the contributions of the CSU, Long Beach students who worked without seeming to take a break. I would also like to give a special thanks to Professor James Manseau-Sauceda from CSU, Long Beach for his expert piano performance during the President's Party on Monday night. My year as President was marked by working toward initiating many checks and balances internally among the elected and appointed offices governing WSCA. As a volunteer organization, we rely on our officers to accomplish a great deal to keep WSCA on an even keel while moving WSCA forward. However, even if an officer can readily attend to WSCA business, sometimes unexpected problems such as family illness or health complications arise. To prevent potential difficulties, this year we have put into place many policies that provide for the "what ifs." These policies allow our beloved WSCA to continue even if an officer is unable to temporarily fulfill his or her duties. It has been my sincere privilege to work with the Executive Council this year. Kathy Adams, Connie Bullis, John Cagle, Dawn O. Braithwaite, Stephanie Coopman, WenShu Lee, Julie Benson-Rosston, Melanie Bloom, David Henry, Dan Canary, Beth Le Poire, Duane Fish, Blaine Goss, Laura Guerrero, and Pamela Kalbfleisch are professional and provide expert leadership. On the more public side, it is my sincere hope that the idea of "translating scholarship into practice" functions as a disciplinary goal. WSCA membership can take the lead by showing others the significance and utility of making our scholarship usable in the everyday world. Thank you for your support during this presidency. I hope I morph into gray eminence in the same graceful way as my predecessors. Seeking Convention Hosts The WSCA Time and Place Committee seeks possible sites for the 2007 convention. Given our location rotation, ideal sites and local host schools would be either in the North (Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Idaho) or in the East (New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah) regions. Of course, the committee will also consider bids from others who are willing and able to host the conventions. Conventions previous to 2007 are: 2006 Palm Springs, CA—South; 2005 San Francisco, CA—Central; 2004 Albuquerque—East; 2003 Salt Lake City—East; 2002 Long Beach, CA—South; 2001 Coeur d'Alene, ID‹North; 2000 Sacramento, CA—Central; 1999 Vancouver, BC—North; 1998 Denver, CO—East. For more information and/or to express interest in hosting the WSCA conference in 2007, please contact Dr. Christina S. Beck, Chair, WSCA Time and Place Committee, via email at BECK@ohio.edu or by telephone at (740) 593-9167. CFN: Model Teaching Program Award The Model Teaching Program Award Committee seeks nominations for the Association's 2003 award. Awards may be given to one or more speech or communication programs from elementary schools, secondary schools, or community colleges. Nominated programs should: reflect the breadth and depth of the communication discipline. have teaching personnel with specialized training in communication. integrate curricular and co-curricular activities. have strong administrative support. relate to the mission of the particular institution. Nominations must include a minimum of two letters of support (one from the school or college; the other from a former student or someone outside the program) that detail the program's success in meeting the above criteria. Additional supporting documents, such as descriptions of course curriculum and innovative teaching methods, are encouraged. The recipient(s) will be notified in December and will present a panel to showcase their Model Teaching Program at the Salt Lake City Convention. Send nominations by November 1, 2002 to Julie Benson-Rosston, U of Montana. Mailing address: 9 Shingle Butte Road, Montana City, Montana 59634. Questions can be directed to Julie Benson-Rosston at 406.443.3062 or jbensonrosston@aol.com. CFN: WSCA Distinguished Service Award WSCA's Distinguished Service Award Committee seeks nominations for the Association's 2003 award. The Distinguished Service Award honors persons who have made significant and long-lasting contributions to WSCA and the communication discipline. Recent award winners include Lynn K. Wells, Saddleback College (2002), Bill Wilmot, U of Montana (2001), and Jody Nyquist, U of Washington (2000). See the WSCA website for a complete list of past recipients. Nominations should include a detailed listing of the nominee's accomplishments (and/or a vita) and one or more letters describing the nominee's specific contributions to WSCA and the discipline.  Please submit nominations no later than December 15, 2002. Direct questions and nominations to the committee chair: Melanie M. Bloom, Department of Communication, CSU, Fresno, Fresno, CA 93740, melanie_bloom@csufresno.edu. Lost Heirloom at Coeur d'Alene Convention John and Jane Cambus lost a cherished heirloom at last year's Coeur d'Alene convention and are offering a generous reward if anyone can help find it. It is a pendant with goal intertwined leaves with two deer teeth and a dangling green acorn. If you can help, please contact them at 121 Lakewood Rd., Walnut Creek, CA 94598-4720 or jcambus@csuhayward.edu. CFP: 2003 WSCA Convention 2003 Convention Program Planners