ECA
Engage with ECA this Summer
The Eastern Communication Association offers many ways to stay connected during the summer months. Here are just a few options to consider:
1. Revisit your favorite sessions and resources from the 2021 Virtual ECA Conference. Registered attendees have access to the ECA conference platform for the next year.
2. Join a Presidential Taskforce. Each year, the incoming ECA President puts forward a set of initiatives.
Please review the two taskforces below and consider sharing your time and talents.
Resilient ECA Taskforce
Inspired by the thoughtful comments from our invited speakers and guests, this taskforce will consider the place and value of ECA post pandemic. The taskforce will explore questions that could include the following:
- What is the future organizational structure of professional associations?
- What is the future of academic conferences?
- How can ECA best support its members post pandemic?
Graduate Student Professional Development Taskforce
This taskforce will identify opportunities for maximizing graduate student engagement with ECA. From mentoring activities to spotlight conference sessions, we’re excited by the interest expressed during the 2021 virtual conference and look forward to continuing these conversations.
Email ECA President Amanda McKendree (amckendree@nd.edu) by July 15, 2021 to confirm your participation on these taskforces.
3. Contribute your ideas for our next ECA Flash Panel. We’re looking for experts who can address the most relevant and timely issues facing our communities. For example, our April event brought together the ECA community for a discussion on the Derek Chauvin verdict. Your topic could be next. Email ECA President Amanda McKendree (amckendree@nd.edu) to express interest in sharing your expertise.
Upcoming Call for Nominations for Editor-Elect of Communication Research Reports
ECA will be seeking nominations or self-nominations for Editor-Elect of Communication Research Reports, Volumes 40-42 (2023-2025). All candidates who meet the membership requirements set forth in the ECA Constitution are eligible to apply. We will be seeking applicants with a wide variety of experiences. If you are interested, but think you don't have the required "research record," please reach out to any member of the ECA Publications Committee to talk through your decision before counting yourself out.
Communication Research Reports (CRR) is published five times per year, with a specific focus on report-length manuscripts (3,500-4,000 words) and brief reports (1,500-2,000 words). CRR manuscripts are focused on social scientific research with a quantitative focus. The journal actively encourages the submission of manuscripts demonstrating null findings, as well as manuscripts that follow open science. CRR also accepts submissions that spotlight emerging practices in Communication Studies and short editorials on topics of interest to Communication scholars.
2022 Eastern Communication Association Convention
Please stay tuned for exciting information!
www.ecacomm.org
WSCA
We are excited to hold our 2022 convention in person, February 18-21, in Portland, OR.
We will be focusing on the theme “Cultivate.”
The convention page and all interest group calls can be accessed here.
When I originally introduced Cultivate as the convention theme for 2021, I emphasized how the metaphor could be used to seek out ways that we can plant with intention, nurture through resources and support, and examine our current field to mix and amend it as needed. At the time, none of us could have imagined how much our individual and collective resources would be depleted through life during a pandemic. Whereas before we might have imagined cultivation to be about augmenting and enhancing our surroundings, at this point cultivation is more immediately connected to survival. I anticipate great work emerging as we use cultivation now as a metaphor to find ways to restore some of what we have lost, and to lay out subsistence plans to get us through these still-difficult times. As Communication Studies teachers, researchers, and scholars, this is work we are well-suited to doing together.
Our 2022 convention will be a unique opportunity to come back together to do the essential work of supporting and developing our discipline and one another. I look forward to what we can cultivate together.
Christina G. Yoshimura
WSCA President-Elect
Professor, The University of Montana
Call for Competitive Papers, Program Proposals, Pre-Conference Workshop Proposals, and Basic Course Conference Position Papers
All papers and proposals, including pre-conference proposals, should be submitted online. Go to westcomm.org -> Convention -> 2022 Submissions -> Submit Papers and Proposals. The submission system (Attendee Interactive) will be open for submissions by August 1, 2021. Submitters do not need to be current members of WSCA to submit work. Deadlines:
- Competitive Papers: 9/1/21
- Panel Session Proposals: 9/1/21
- Pre-Conference Workshop Proposals: 9/1/21
- Basic Course Conference Position Papers: 9/15/21
- Undergraduate Scholars’ Research Conference: 12/1/21
Competitive Papers
Authors are encouraged to submit papers to interest groups for competitive selection. Papers may employ any humanistic, scientific, and/or other methodology(ies) and may address theoretical developments, critical analyses, disciplinary issues, pedagogical issues, and/or research advancements.
You should submit your paper to one interest group. Each interest group has different guidelines and opportunities for submissions, so please be sure to review the interest group’s online call for papers prior to submission (available at westcomm.org -> Convention -> Call for Papers).
Research in Progress: Some interest groups sponsor “Research in Progress” programs. Papers submitted to these programs should not exceed ten pages in length. Be sure that the interest group to which you want to send your paper accepts “Research in Progress” programs before submission.
Debut Award: The WSCA Executives Club Debut Award is made to the author (or co-authors) of a paper presented at the convention “who have not presented a paper at a state, regional, national or international convention, or published in any academic journal.” Papers presented at student-only conferences are exempt from this requirement. All authors of a co-authored paper must meet these eligibility requirements for a paper to be considered a Debut Paper. Papers eligible for the Debut Award should select “debut” in the Attendee Interactive online submission system. Some interest groups also sponsor debut programs; papers need not be presented on a debut panel session to be eligible for the Executives Club Debut Award.
Competitive papers must be submitted online using the Attendee Interactive system by no later than midnight PST on Wednesday, September 1, 2021. Please address any competitive paper questions, comments, or concerns to the Interest Group planner or Primary Program Planner Christina G. Yoshimura at christina.yoshimura@umontana.edu.
Panel Session Proposals
Panel session proposals should focus on a unifying theme relevant to research, theory, or instruction in the area of the sponsoring interest group. Panel sessions may consist of a chair, individual presenters, and a critic/respondent in a traditional conference format. However, we encourage proposals for a debate, a round table discussion, a performance activity, or an innovative program that provides opportunities for interaction among participants and attendees. We welcome programs that are co-sponsored with other interest groups. We particularly solicit programs that relate to the 2022 convention theme, “Cultivate.”
Panel session proposals must contain the following:
1. Thematic title of the panel session.
2. Names and affiliations of all participants.
3. Title and brief description of each presentation.
4. An abstract of 50-75 words that identifies the content and purpose of the panel, which will be printed in the program book. If accepted, additional explanations or details may be included in a separate panel session leaflet or handout made available at the panel session presentation.
5. Equipment needed for the panel session. Equipment availability is extremely limited. Note that an AV request is not a guarantee that AV will be available. If your submission is accepted, your interest group planner should inform you whether or not you will have AV.
Panel session proposals must be submitted online using the Attendee Interactive system by no later than midnight PST on Wednesday, September 1, 2021. Please address any session proposal questions, comments, or concerns to the Interest Group Planner or Primary Program Planner Christina G. Yoshimura.
Pre-Conference Workshop Proposals
A workshop is intended as a training or informational short course that can be presented in a three-hour or six-hour time block. A workshop topic may concern the presentation of teaching innovations, an area of research, a new theoretical perspective, the application of a body of knowledge, skill development, or another clearly focused topic. Workshop leaders are encouraged to advertise their workshops and solicit participation.
Workshops are scheduled the day of the kick-off, as a pre-conference activity, on Friday, February 18, 2022. Participants pay a modest registration fee. The fee is intended to cover only the direct costs (photocopying, materials, etc.) incurred in conducting the workshop.
Pre-conference workshop proposals should include the following:
1. Title of the workshop.
2. Names and affiliations of all presenters.
3. A detailed rationale that outlines the workshop's goals.
4. A brief (50-75 words only) outline and description of workshop activities for potential inclusion in the conference program.
5. Room size and configuration requested (e.g., theater seating, tables of eight, etc.).
6. Equipment needed for the pre-conference. Equipment availability is extremely limited. (Note that AV costs are the workshop submitter’s responsibility. You will either have to pay for it directly, bring it with you (if the hotel contract allows), or put it in the cost of the workshop and pass the fees on to the participants).
7. Maximum enrollment number.
8. Fee amount, set in accordance with WSCA policy (see below).
9. Time-block requested (i.e., three hours or six hours).
Guide to setting fees for workshop leaders: WSCA has set $5.00 as the base fee for any workshop. The first $5.00 of each registrant’s fee is designed to cover the association’s administrative costs. Any fees above $5.00 should be set at such a level as to provide reimbursement to the workshop leader(s) only for the cost of materials, equipment, and any out-of-the-ordinary expenses. Costs for audio-visual and other equipment rental and costs of producing materials for participants must be covered within the overall fee that is specified. WSCA cannot reimburse more money to a workshop leader than it receives from participant fees. If a part or all of a fee is proposed as covering an individual’s expenses or as an honorarium, WSCA President Marnel Niles Goins must approve it prior to any commitment to the individual.
Workshop proposals must be submitted online using the Attendee Interactive system by no later than midnight PST on Wednesday, September 1, 2021. Please address any workshop proposal questions, comments, or concerns to President-Elect Christina G. Yoshimura at christina.yoshimura@umontana.edu.
Basic Course Conference Position Papers
The Western States Communication Association invites participants for the Basic Course Conference (BCC) on Friday, February 18, 2022 at the WSCA Annual Convention in Portland, OR. The Basic Course Conference focuses on issues in the basic communication course (broadly defined). In keeping with the conference theme, “Cultivate,” issued by President-Elect Christina G. Yoshimura, this year's Basic Course Conference will address topics, concerns, positions, and perspectives in the Basic Course that might benefit from active cultivation. How can we better consider and understand what may be fruitfully and metaphorically pruned, hybridized, fertilized, and sown? Toniesha Taylor serves as this year’s Basic Course Conference Coordinator.
We will shape this year’s BCC borrowing from some of the framework created by Past President Michelle Holling and Past Basic Course Conference Coordinator Tom Dunn. The BCC will be constructed around perspectives, needs, and ideas that are articulated by interested attendees, resulting in sessions that engage, educate, and support the multiple positions within the Basic Course community (including course directors, graduate teaching assistants, community college faculty, temporary or term faculty, etc.). To achieve this end, the BCC invites position papers that will aid in creating the content and foci for the conference. We will use position papers to identify themes, as well as to build from the experiences/perspectives of interested attendees. We will facilitate sessions and conversations that are driven by the community's diverse interests, and we will work together to cultivate flourishing at the individual, course, and disciplinary levels.
Position papers submitted for the BCC must:
1. NOT exceed ONE (1) page in length, single spaced.
2. Include the name, institutional affiliation, e-mail address, and phone number of the participant. Participants are limited to one submission per person, though co-authored submissions are welcome.
3. Identify how you see yourself positioned relative to the basic course (for example: are you relatively new to the Basic Course, are you feeling burned out and in need of new ideas from decades of teaching the course, are you a chair or dean seeking assessment ideas or logistical assistance with the Basic Course, are you a graduate student who is new to teaching overall, etc.).
4. Explicitly pose a question, raise an issue, or offer a bid for change regarding a topic where cultivation is needed within the Basic Course. This question/issue/bid must be:
a) A single sentence.
b) BOLDED and placed at the top of the position paper.
c) For example, prospective participants might pose the following kinds of questions/issues/bids:
i) “How can we cross-pollinate our public speaking courses with contexts or content from other disciplines, such as public speaking and engineering or public speaking and the arts?”
ii) “What can we do to provide support for our Basic Course instructors who are new to teaching the course?”
iii) “An essential task of the department chair should be to advocate for the Basic Course’s inclusion in the core of the college/university curriculum.”
5. Then narrate how you would address this question, issue, or bid for change in a way that would aid our focus on cultivation at the 2022 Basic Course Conference.
We will not be utilizing AV equipment during the BCC; however, participants are welcome to bring handouts if desired.
Submitted position papers will be assessed on their relevance to the BCC, resonance with the conference theme, quality of writing, and potential for sparking a fruitful discussion at the BCC. Based upon these position papers, accepted participants will then be placed in roundtable discussion groups and/or thematic panels by the Basic Course Conference Coordinator. We will focus on active participation and interaction from participants rather than making BCC participants passive audience members.
Given the structure of the BCC, participants selected to join agree to attend and stay for the duration of the event (not to exceed 3 hours). The BCC will be held on the Friday morning of the WSCA conference, so participants should not plan to attend other conflicting Friday events (i.e., the Undergraduate Research Conference, morning or full day pre-conferences, local events, etc.).
There will be no cost associated with attending the 2022 BCC above and beyond registration for the WSCA convention itself. The BCC will also ensure that all discussion leaders are recognized in the conference program in order to secure institutional support.
Position papers must be submitted online at westcomm.org. In the Attendee Interactive system, select BCC as the interest group. All submissions should be in Microsoft Word or PDF format. Position papers must be received by midnight PST on Wednesday, September 15, 2021. If you have questions or concerns, please contact Basic Course Conference Coordinator Toniesha Taylor at toniesha.taylor@tsu.edu.