National Communication Association

National Communication Association headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The National Communication Association is the largest national organization to promote communication scholarship and education. A non-profit organization that has over 8,000 educators, practitioners, and students who work and reside in every state and more than 20 countries. The NCA serves the scholars, teachers, and practitioners who are its members by enabling and supporting their professional interests in research and teaching. Dedicated to fostering and promoting free and ethical communication, the NCA promotes the widespread appreciation of the importance of communication in public and private life, the application of competent communication to improve the quality of human life and relationships, and the use of knowledge about communication to solve human problems.It also advances communication as the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific and aesthetic inquiry.^[1]

History

The National Communication Association was founded in 1914. NCA’s long and rich history encompasses shifts in the priorities and interests of communication scholars, researchers, and professionals. Various name changes reflect the association’s evolution over nearly 100 years. Changes to the name of the association have resulted in the following name changes of communication departments and programs at colleges and universities throughout the years:^[2]

• National Association of Academic Teachers of Public Speaking, 1914–1922
• National Association of Teachers of Speech, 1923–1945
• Speech Association of America, 1946–1969
• Speech Communication Association, 1970–1996
• National Communication Association, 1997–Present

Disciplinary activities

NCA strives to publicize the discipline's scholarship through press releases and regular contacts with policy makers. When appropriate, NCA offers scholarship to support the development of governmental policy. Where proposed laws are of interest or potential concern, the National Office staff notifies members so that they can make their opinions known to their representatives on Capitol Hill.

NCA's sponsors an annual convention, which is the leading outlet for the discipline's scholarship. NCA's summer conferences bring together scholars working in an emerging area of interest to exchange ideas. The annual convention consists of short courses, preconferences, seminars, G.I.F.T.S.(Great Ideas for Teaching Students), and scholar to scholar. ^[3]

NCA publishes 10 academic journals: Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies,Communication Education, Communication Monographs,Communication Teacher, Critical Studies in Media Communication,Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, Journal of Applied Communication Research, Quarterly Journal of Speech,Review of Communication, and Text and Performance Quarterly.

NCA also publishes an online magazine, Communication Currents. The site is designed to translate current communication scholarship published in scholarly journals of the National Communication Association. Working from recently-published journal articles, Communication Currents makes scholarship available in a form understandable and usable for broad audiences, including communication experts working with lay audiences, instructors and students, the press, and other interested members of the public. Essays in Communication Currents highlight the relevance of communication scholarship; demonstrates the way in which communication impacts our world; and demonstrates the leadership of NCA in the study of communication.

Leadership

NCA Presidents from 1915 to present:

1915 J.M. O’Neill,* University of Wisconsin
1916 J.A. Winans,* Cornell University
1917 J.L. Lardner,* Northwestern University
1918 H.S. Woodward,* Western Reserve University
1919 H.S. Woodward,* Western Reserve University
1920 C.H. Woolbert,* University of Illinois
1921 A.M. Drummond,* Cornell University
1922 Glenn N. Merry,* University of Iowa
1923 Harry B. Gough,* Depauw University
1924 Wilber Jones Kay,* West Virginia University
1925 Ray K. Immel,* University of Southern California
1926 E.C. Mabie,* University of Iowa
1927 Andrew T. Weaver,* University of Wisconsin
1928 John P. Ryan,* Grinnell College
1929 F.M. Rarig,* University of Minnesota
1930 John Dolman,* Jr., University of Pennsylvania
1931 Clarence T. Simon,* Northwestern University
1932 Henrietta Prentiss,* Hunter College
1933 Lee Emerson Bassett,* Leland Stanford University
1934 H.L. Ewbank,* University of Wisconsin
1935 Arleigh B. Williamson,* New York University
1936 Maud May Babcock,* University of Utah
1937 Herbert A. Wichelns,* Cornell University
1938 J.T. Marshman,* Ohio Wesleyan University
1939 A. Craig Baird,* University of Iowa
1940 Alan H. Monroe,* Purdue University 1941 W. Hayes Yeager,* George Washington University
1941 Honorary President Thomas C. Trueblood,* University of Michigan
1942 Claude M. Wise,* Louisiana State University
1943 Robert West,* University of Wisconsin
1944 Bower Aly,* University of Missouri
1945 Joseph F. Smith,* University of Utah
1946 W. Norwood Brigance,* Wabash College
1947 Magdalene Kramer,* Columbia University
1948 Rupert Cortright,* Wayne State University
1949 J.H. McBurney,* Northwestern University
1950 Horace G. Rahskopf,* University of Washington
1951 Wilber Gilman,* Queens College
1952 Lionel Crocker,* Denison University
1953 H.P. Constans,* University of Florida
1954 Karl R. Wallace,* University of Illinois
1955 Thomas A. Rousse,* University of Texas
1956 Lester Thonssen,* College of the City of New York
1957 Loren Reid, University of Missouri
1958 Elise Hahn,* University of California
1959 John E. Dietrich,* Ohio State University
1960 Kenneth G. Hance,* Michigan State University
1961 Ralph G. Nichols, University of Minnesota
1962 Waldo W. Braden,* Louisiana University
1963 Ernest J. Wrage,* Northwestern State University
1964 Robert T. Oliver*, Penn State University
1965 J. Jeffery Auer, Indiana University
1966 John W. Black,* Ohio State University
1967 Wayne C. Minnick, Florida State University
1968 Douglas Ehninger,* University of Iowa
1969 Marie Hochmuth Nichols,* University of Illinois
1970 Donald C. Bryant,* University of Iowa
1971 William S. Howell,* University of Minnesota
1972 Theodore Clevenger, Jr.,* Florida State University
1973 Robert C. Jeffrey,* University of Texas
1974 Samuel L. Becker, University of Iowa
1975 Herman Cohen, Penn State University
1976 Lloyd F. Bitzer, University of Wisconsin
1977 Wallace A. Bacon,* Northwestern University
1978 Jane Blankenship, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
1979 Ronald R. Allen, University of Wisconsin
1980 Malcolm O. Sillars, University of Utah
1981 Anita Taylor, George Mason University
1982 Frank E.X. Dance, University of Denver
1983 Kenneth E. Andersen, University of Illinois
1984 John Waite Bowers, University of Iowa
1985 Beverly Whitaker Long, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
1986 Wayne Brockriede,* California State University, Fullerton**
1987 Patti P. Gillespie, University of Maryland
1988 Michael M. Osborn, Memphis State University
1989 Gustav W. Friedrich, University of Oklahoma
1990 Mark L. Knapp, University of Texas
1991 Dennis Gouran, Penn State University
1992 Dale Leathers,* University of Georgia
1993 David Zarefsky, Northwestern University
1994 Bruce E. Gronbeck, University of Iowa
1995 Sharon A. Ratliffe, Golden West College
1996 James W. Chesebro, Indiana State University
1997 Judith S. Trent, University of Cincinnati
1998 John A. Daly, University of Texas, Austin
1999 Orlando L. Taylor, Howard University
2000 Raymie E. McKerrow, Ohio University
2001 James L. Applegate, University of Kentucky
2002 V. William Balthrop, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
2003 Judy C. Pearson, North Dakota State University
2004 Isa N. Engleberg, Prince George’s Community College
2005 Martha Watson, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
2006 H. Dan O'Hair, University of Oklahoma
2007 J. Michael Sproule, St. Louis University
2008 Arthur P. Bochner, University of South Florida
2009 Betsy Bach, University of Montana-Missoula
2010 Dawn O. Braithwaite
2011 Lynn H. Turner

• Deceased
• Donald Ecroyd, Temple University, died before assuming the NCA presidency in 1986.^[4]

The Executive Director of the National Communication Association is Nancy Kidd.^[5]

Non-profit association

NCA is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization with over 8,000 members who work and reside in all of the United States and more than 20 other countries.

See also

• Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
• American Communication Association
• Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
• Canadian Communication Association
• Central States Communication Association
• Cross Examination Debate Association
• Eastern Communication Association
• European Speech Communication Association
• European Communication Research and Education Association
• International Communication Association
• International Speech Communication Association
• National Forensic Association
• NorthWest Communication Association
• Southern States Communication Association
• Western States Communication Association
• World Communication Association

External links

• The NCA official website
• NCA Press Website, a press project covering NCA's 94th Annual Convention in San Diego

References

1. ^ "NCA's Mission". http://www.natcom.org/Default.aspx?id=46. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 
2. ^ "NCA's History". http://www.natcom.org/Default.aspx?id=108. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 
3. ^ "Program Information". http://www.natcom.org/programinfo/. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 
4. ^ NCA Presidents (2009). Retrieved on March 26, 2009 from http://www.natcom.org/index.asp?bid=497 with Besty Bach added in 2009.
5. ^ http://www.natcom.org/index.asp?bid=503