NCA Philosophy of Communication Division 2013 Business Meeting

November 24, 2013

Marie Radford called the meeting to order at 9:30.

Approval of 11/17/2012 Meeting Minutes

  • Edit proposed from Annette Holba: Byways should be bylaws
  • Minutes approved contingent upon Holba’s edit

2013 Program Planner’s Report from Igor Klyukanov

  • 48 total submissions; each submission was scored by two or three reviewers
  • 38 individual papers; 9 papers accepted; 37.7% acceptance rate
  • 10 panel submissions; 3 accepted; 33% acceptance rate
  • Two panels composed of individual papers, three panels, and business meeting were slotted on the 2013 program.
  • Thank you to all reviewers, chairs, and presenters followed by an invitation for future willingness to review.

2013 Unit Report from Legislative Assembly from Garnet Butchart

  • Two candidates nominated for Second Vice President
  • Two nominations for Committee on Agenda
  • Five nominations for Committee on Committees
  • Bylaws were approved (33 in favor, 8 opposed)
  • All changes appear in the Legislative Assembly Packet
  • Statement from Ronald C. Arnett: I met with the executive directors from regional associations with Steven Beebe and Nancy Kidd. The primary issue is of academic diversity and attempts to form a discipline rather than a field. There is a current essay advocating uniform introduction courses, and a committee was put together to examine all coordinates across basic courses. This would never be passed by the administration at Duquesne University. Trust needs to be driven by the ground on which we stand, not by people. I have serious reservation about this proposal coming out of the Legislative Assembly regarding the bylaws.
  • Clarification from Butchart: The proposal is now open for discussion. Another motion is necessary for the proposal to be enacted.
  • Statement from Annette Holba: There is opposition coming out of the Communication Ethics Division. Watch for discussion on CRTNET.
  • Statement from Marie Radford: Perhaps, this issues a statement from the Philosophy of Communication Division
  • Statement from Richard Lanigan: The location of NCA in DC contributes to the problem.
  • Statement from Radford: The primary areas of the proposal are to move the legislative body away from governing body and toward an advisory body. The proposal is exclusive by nature, streamlining power to the legislative assembly. We will gather more information, make a timeline, poll the division, and then come forth with a statement. The headline will indicate something about proposed revisions or legislative assembly.

Membership Update and Financial Report from Marie Radford

  • Membership Update:
  • Radford first recognized Igor Klyukanov who received the presidential citation.
  • The enhanced member benefit publication was passed, which means that all members will receive all NCA journals in electronic format. Apparently the agreement is that it is the same cost for both print and electronic. There is no increase or decrease in cost to the association.
  • The membership is approximately 330, which is relevantly consistent.
  • The division received additional funding. We now get $340 for business, which was spent on award checks and plagues with no remaining money. This has not been adequate, and I am pressing for a raise but the funding is based on membership—approximately $1 per member. Perhaps, with a surplus in membership, we could get more funding.
  • Financial Report:
  • The association is extremely healthy with a surplus of over 1 million dollars.
  • The plan is to use the surplus to negotiate and provide free WiFi at all hotels for projectors and laptops and to provide subsidies to student members. There has been no vote or decisions, only discussion. The leadership likes to keep a big surplus in case of disaster.
  • The booklet of business from the legislative assembly is available for review.

2014 Program Planning Report from Annette Holba

  • The theme for the 2014 conference in Chicago is “The Presence of Our Past(s): NCA at 100”
  • There will be 100 extra sessions with a separate call for those sessions. The association is asking units or divisions to consider proposing something that celebrates 100 years. Are there any comments for discussion? Should our division follow the theme or not?
  • Question of clarification from Radford—So these are not extra slots for divisions? We only got six slots with one a business meeting this year. We want to compare membership numbers with other divisions before deciding.
  • Comment from Arnett: This issue of comparison is important. The Program Planning Committee should examine this.
  • Comment from Radford: We have been successful in the past by attending to the conference theme.
  • Comment from Holba: She wants it relevant to the field not theme—this is a liberation year.
  • The submission deadline for the call is February 3, 2014.
  • Please sign up as a reviewer, chair, and/or respondent

Election of Officers by Marie Radford

  • Opening for nominations for secretary
  • Susan Carr nominated by Ronald C. Arnett and elected
  • Opening for nominations for Second Vice Chairperson Elect
  • Annette Holba will move to First Vice Chairperson
  • Jay Brower nominated by Marie Radford and elected
  • Awards Committee Member (one who rotates to chair, one who rotates off, and two new members join)
  • Richard Lanigan rotates to chair
  • Jay Brower rotated off
  • Garnet Butchart and Pat Gehrke nominated and elected as Awards Committee Members

Award Announcements

  • Igor Klyukanov presented Jessica Sturgess with the Top Student Paper award for “Drawing from Heidegger: Rhetoric, Communication, and Dasein”
  • Igor Klyukanov presented Heather Curry with the Top Paper award for “Precarity, Community, and Panhandling in Tampa Bay: Seeking a Theoretical Framework at the Local Scale”
  • Marie Radford presented Ronald C. Arnett and Annette Holba with the Top Book award from An Overture to Philosophy of Communication: The Carrier of Meaning
  • Marie Radford presented Frank Macke with the Top Book Chapter award for “Intrapersonal Communicology: Reflection, Reflexivity, and Relational Consciousness in Embodied Subjectivity”
  • Marie Radford presented Garnet Butchart with the Top Article award for “Camera as Sign: On the Ethics of Unconcealment in Documentary Film and Video”

New Business

  • Announcement from Holba: I am passing around the postcard for Ramsey Eric Ramsey’s philosophy of communication book series, which moved to Duquesne University Press from Purdue University Press
  • Announcement from Arnett: There will be a philosophy of communication and communication ethics conference at Duquesne University this summer. We will send the call through the division Listserv.
  • Announcement from Craig Maier—Cem Zeytinoglu talked to Leeanne Bell and me about the possibility for potential collaboration with an European association about potential collaboration.
  • Comment from Lanigan: The scholar who runs it is an ICI fellow. The philosophy of communication division in the European association predates this division by one year. They would be the ideal group to collaborate with.
  • Marie Radford turns over the symbolic gavel to Igor Klyukanov.

Meeting was adjourned at 10:45.