ENHANCING OUR DISCIPLINE'S CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIAL ISSUES

Do you think that our discipline can and should make a greater contribution to the social issues confronting our society? Thousands of students pass through our courses each year; what do they take with them that equips them to be good citizens and leaders? Thousands of us are involved in service learning and applied communication projects; what sustained impact do they have? Thousands of us engage in research; in addition to furthering the work of other scholars, how does it help make a better social world?

Some of us believe that the cluster of ideas referred to as "social constructionism" empowers our discipline's positive impact on society, and we  want to support their role of these ideas within our discipline. We believe that more people accept those ideas than have found ways of implementing them in our syllabi, textbooks, research projects, and applied communication projects. 

If you would like to join a group of like-minded peers in exploring the ways social constructionism can support the social relevance of our discipline, join us in the Summer Institute "Caught in the Act" in Albuquerque, New Mexico, August 1st - 4th, 2006. Prior to the conference, participants will receive papers (written by Linda Putnam, Ken Cissna, Gloria Galanes, Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, and Barnett Pearce) summarizing social constructionist ideas and giving a reconnaissance of social constructionist work in teaching, research and applied communication.

This will be a "working conference" rather than a teaching one. That is, participants will work together to explore and develop ways of bringing social constructionist ideas into syllabi, textbooks, applied communication projects, and research projects. Participants are invited to bring their ideas, syllabi, teaching plans, research ideas, applied communication projects, and may reasonably expect to take home with them practical ideas for use in all these areas.

This Summer Institute is co-sponsored by the NCA and by the Crooked Timbers Project. For more information about the Crooked Timbers Project, see http://www.crookedtimbersproject.org/.

Pre-registration is required, and registration closes June 15. Early registration is recommended. The registration form is available at www.natcom.org/nca/Template2.asp?bid=4537.