Public Address Division
1998 Business Meeting Minutes
NCA Public Address Division
Business Meeting Minutes
November 21, 1998
New York, New York
I. Meeting was called to order Suzanne Daughton at 3:30 PM.
II. Approval of Minutes from 1997 Meeting.
Minutes were approved with two minor revisions:
In section 5, the spelling of Adrienne Christiansen's was corrected.
In section 7, Mark Steiner's essay was marked as "Outstanding Contributed Paper."III. Nominating Committee Report and Distribution of Ballots
Trevor Parry-Giles (Chair) distributed ballots. There were no nominations from the floor. John Sloop noted that Sean O'Rourke requested that his name be withdrawn from the candidates for the nominating committee.
IV. Report from Bill Eadie from the National Office
Sites for the following four NCA conventions were announced, with Eadie noting that all four are on the Thursday through Sunday schedule, and only one is on the weekend before Thanksgiving.
1999-Nov. 4-7-Chicago.
2000-2nd Weekend in November-Seattle (the conference will be held at a conference center with members staying in 7 different hotels). NCA will use this conference as an experiment to see if members prefer a single conference hotel or multiple ones).
2001-Nov. 1-4-Atlanta.
2002-New Orleans.The National Office has contracted to purchase a building in Washington, DC, two blocks from DuPont Circle. While there remain contingencies on the purchase (e.g., inspections, zoning changes), the National Office expects to be able to announce a move-in date by next year.
The National Office's Y2K problem will be solved by purchasing new computer equipment. The new system is also needed to allow for growth in Internet activity.
Director of Operations Norma Geiger is retiring. Maureen Coleman will be new Director of Operations.
V. Chair's Report from Legislative Council (Suzanne Daughton)
NCA is in fine financial health.
There are now over 7,000 members and 370 Department members, indicating growth over the last decade.
Since 1993, the National Conference has had over 4000 attendees.
The Council passed a fee structure change, which is meant to aid members with financial difficulties.
The Committee passed a sliding fee scale for members who complete their terminal degrees (this scale can only be used once in a lifetime). According to the scale, the member will receive $30, $20, and $10 reductions on membership costs over the first three years after receiving their degrees and a $15 reduction in registration for the NCA conference each of the three years if they preregister. These costs will be covered by a $5 annual increase in library subscriptions for NCA journals.
Commission status has been granted to Human Communication and Technology.
Division status was granted to the Ethnography Division.
There was a proposal that all students be granted free and automatic membership in the Student Section.
VI. Vice-chair's report-Mary Kahl
While we received more than enough papers and panel proposals, overall submissions to the division are down. We received 26 papers and accepted 19; we received 10 papers and accepted 7. We received all the spots we requested (15). Debut paper submissions are a serious concern with only 3 submitted this year and 2 accepted. Members are asked to encourage students to submit papers to the division.
The following reviewers were recognized for reading the submissions this year:
J. Jeffery Auer
Carole Blair
Jane Blankenship
Carolyn Calloway-Thomas
Bonnie J. Dow
Valerie A. Endress
James M. Farrell
Bruce E. Gronbeck
John C. Hammerback
David Henry
Robert L. Ivie
Michael C. Leff
Janette Kenner Muir
John M. Murphy
Kent A. Ono
Anne Pym
Kurt Ritter
Brant C. Short
Mari Boor TonnOrlando Taylor originally tried to bump two of our panels from the program this year because of the Division's refusal to sponsor poster sessions (although we were able to restore the programs). The division has had a long standing and recorded opposition to poster sessions because of the nature of public address scholarship. When Mary Kahl was on a Poster Session Task Force a few years back, the report specifically stipulated that divisions and units should not be forced to use poster session and should not be penalized for their failure to do so.
Attention was drawn to two special programs: first, a celebration of the work and influence of J. Jeffery Auer, followed by a reception; and second, an off-site program on Ellis Island on "The Rhetorics of Public Memory."
Attention was also drawn to the PAD Top Three panel and the panel featuring the top ranked debut paper.
Michael Leff stressed the need for reinvigorating debut programs and encouraging student submissions.
Susan Zaeske noted that the poster session question would not be a problem in the immediate future because Raymie McKerrow has noted that while he is President, poster sessions will be a divisional concern.
Ron Lee asked if there was any evidence of where papers normally submitted to public address were now being submitted. John Sloop observed that the Critical Cultural Studies Division, which had a large number of submissions, might be part of the draw. Carole Blair observed that division change is occurring and is a natural part of the growth of the field.
It was noted that because we will only have the use of one hotel at the 1999 Conference in Chicago, there is the possibility that the total number of panel sessions will be down simply as a result of room space.
VII. Old Business
Michael Leff, Lois Einhorn, and Carol Jablonski were elected as members of a task force to develop criteria for the selection of the Carroll Arnold graduate student research award. The developed criteria will then be submitted to the executive board.
VIII. New Business
Given the absence of Jim Aune (who was attending the simultaneous Rhetoric and Communication Theory Division meeting), there were no updates on the Resolutions Committee.
Presentation of Awards (Mary Kahl)
1998 Robert G. Gunderson Award for the Top Debut Paper in Public Address-Michele Mason of the University of Maryland for "Close Reading and the Text/Context Dilemma: A Subversive Account of the 1935 Harlem Riot."
Top Contributed Paper Award-Shawn J. Parry-Giles of the University of Maryland and Trevor Parry-Giles of the Campaign Performance Group for "Meta-Imaging and the Hyperreality of American Politics: The War Room and the 1992 Clinton Campaign."Carole Blair presented James Darsey with the 1998 Marie Hochmoth Nichols Award for his book, The Prophetic Tradition and Radical Rhetoric in America.
The floor was asked to consider naming the Contributed Paper Award. After James Darsey suggested naming the award jointly after Barnet Baskerville and Ernest Wrage, and Lois Einhorn suggested either J. Jeffery Auer or Jane Blankenship, Carol Jablonski asked the nominators to give a short speech in favor of their suggestions. After they did so, ballots were cast.
John Sloop distributed copies of the Public Address Division's new web site and a mission statement developed by Suzanne Daughton for consideration of the division. After minor changes were made, the PAD Mission Statement reads as follows:
The Public Address Division of the National Communication Association takes as its mission the practice and the promotion of the study of a wide variety of rhetoric that addresses publics. Although the term "public address" evokes a rich history of the study of political and religious oratory, we welcome and include not only traditional studies of "great speakers and speeches" but also work that focuses on rhetorical acts and artifacts from other cultures and from other media.
IX. Announcements
Kathleen Turner announced the publication of her new edited volume, Doing Rhetorical History: Concepts and Cases.
Suzanne Daughton announced a job at Southern Illinois University.
Leroy Dorsey made note of the Texas A&M Annual Rhetorical Presidency Conference.
It was announced that the Top Contributed Paper would be named the Barnet Baskerville-Ernet Wrage Award.
Trevor Parry-Giles announced the following election results:
Vice Chair-Elect: Richard Jensen
Representative to the Winans-Wichelns Committee: Bonnie J. Dow
Representative to the Nichols Award Committee: Shawn J. Parry-Giles
Representative to the NCA Resolutions Committee: Susan Zickmund
Nominating Committee: Marouf Hasian (Chair), Melissa Deem, Lisa Flores, Sarah Hayden, Chuck MorrisThe Division passed the following resolution: We endorse the Poster Task Force's recommendation that no group or division should be compelled to submit/employ poster sessions and should not be punished for not doing so.
Carole Blair moved to thank Suzanne Daughton, Mary Kahl, Susan Zaeske, and John Sloop for their work as officers.
X. Meeting Adjourned at 5:00 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
John M. Sloop, Secretary, Public Address Division
© 2003, NCA Public Address Division, all rights reserved. For comments or questions about this website, contact Trevor Parry-Giles.