WSCA Elections

Lisa Flores, Michelle Holling
Named WSCA Vice Presidents

by Sue Penell, Immediate Past President

The election results are in, and I’m pleased to announce that the following have been elected to these WSCA offices:

Lisa A. Flores (University of Colorado), First Vice President
Michelle Holling (California State University, San Marcos), Second Vice President
Eric Aoki (Colorado State University), Delegate-at-large to the Legislative Assembly
Teresa Bergman (University of the Pacific), Delegate-at-large to the Legislative Assembly
Kurt Lindemann (San Diego State University), Delegate-at-large to the Legislative Assembly
Cindy Koenig Richards (Willamette University), Delegate-at-large to the Legislative Assembly
Erin Sahlstein (University of Nevada, Las Vegas), Delegate-at-large to the Legislative Assembly

Please join me in congratulating these individuals and in thanking all the candidates for their willingness to serve the Association.

According to Executive Director Mark Bergstrom, the online voting was a great success, with more people voting than in any previous election we’re aware of.  So thanks to those of you who exercised your right to vote for participating in the process!

WSCA Editors

New WJC and WSCA News Editors Named

by A. Susan Owen, Publications Committee Chair

At the WSCA Executive Council Meeting of November 11, 2009, two members were elected as incoming Editors of the Western Journal of Communication, and WSCA News. The new editors are:

Bill Eadie (San Diego State University) - Editor, Western Journal of Communication

Michele Horner Jackson (University of Colorado) - Editor, WSCA News

Bill will begin reviewing manuscripts for WJC beginning approximately January 2011, and his first issue will appear in 2012. Michele's first issue of WSCA News will debut in August 2010.

Congratulations to our new editors.

WSCA Annual Meeting, March 5-9, 2010 , Anchorage, Alaska

Reflecting Back and Moving Forward:
Engaging Mesa and Anchorage

by Elizabeth K. Rush and Jennifer Marmo
Arizona State University
WSCA 2009 Co-Public Relations Chairs

As WSCA 2010 in Anchorage nears, an important aspect of planning aside from flight schedules and hotel rooms is investigating ways to connect communication research to the local area where the convention is held. When we prepared press releases announcing the 2009 convention in Mesa, we were both especially interested in panels that were tied to larger local and social issues. Two of the primary ways this occurred in Mesa were (1) having practitioners included on or in panel discussions and (2) getting out of the hotel and exploring pressing local concerns that could benefit from communication scholars’ assistance. Engaging through our research is a vital focus in our discipline, and the Mesa convention provided opportunities for this through exploring work-life tensions, non-profit health organizations, and immigration issues.

These themes began with a pre-conference hosted by Arizona State University’s Project for Wellness and Work-Life (PWWL). Through presentations and breakout sessions, 27 participants from both the academy and the professional work-life sector explored the notion of a sustainable-self and what such a self might look like. Participants asked big questions, such as how can we begin to make progress and move to a supportive infrastructure when work-life issues are often still constructed as a personal problem? According to the pre-conference organizer, Dr. Heather Canary from ASU, engaged scholarship and events like this pre-conference highlight “the usefulness of our theories and methods for addressing issues that affect people’s lives.”

Such a focus was mirrored in a double-panel, also chaired by Canary, which explored non-profit health organizations and their unique communication challenges. Researchers and organization leaders met to discuss: shelters and health campaigns to help with intimate partner violence, families with children with disabilities, health literacy through the use of plain language, and arts as a means for inspiring and healing children. Both researchers and practitioners dialogued about each groups’ challenges and ways to aide non-profit health organizations in the future. For example, Connie Phillips, the Executive Director of the Sojourner Center in Arizona, offered challenging questions like, “How do we present our case for support from the community and not fall into hiding truths and recreating stereotypes of domestic violence victims?” This panel illustrated the continued need for communication scholars to examine non-profit health organizations and how much our knowledge can impact their livelihoods.

Last, since Arizona is a border state, the convention being held in Mesa offered a unique space for addressing the topic of immigration. Dr. Karma Chávez from the University of New Mexico and Kathryn Rodriquez, the Coordinating Organizer for Coalición de Derechos Humanos (CDH), led a border tour to Nogales. This border tour was tied to a double panel at WSCA hosted by ORWAC that featured CDH presenters and communication researchers discussing issues of immigration, race, and gender. Chávez explained, “I believe we have a lot to learn and contribute to social justice communities as so much of social justice depends on effective communication and the use of rhetoric.” Chávez, CDH members, and participants and attendees of the border tour and ORWAC panel have continued to stay in contact with one another and advocate for immigration issues since the convention’s end, such as by writing letters to President Obama and attempting to restructure mediated messages on immigration.
These panels and local events were only a few of the ways WSCA members were engaging important social issues while in Mesa. Members can continue this trend into the new decade with their attendance at local events and by connecting community groups to their work in Anchorage.

One space for engagement in 2010 is the Organizational Communication Interest Group’s tour of the Port of Anchorage on March 7th. Brenden Kendall from the University of Utah has organized this event for the convention to experience a distinctively Alaskan organization. According to Dr. Greg Larson from the University of Montana, “Much of what you will eat, drink, or buy in Anchorage will come through this Port. There will be an opportunity to view the operations of the Port, ask questions, and likely meet with the Port director and the state’s former governor (no, not that former governor).” The tour will be relatively inexpensive and will just include the travel cost to the Port. Contact greg.larson@mso.umt.edu to RSVP or for more information. Please also visit the Port of Anchorage’s website: http://www.muni.org/departments/port/pages/default.aspx.