UNCG Records Major Achievements at NCA Convention

UNCG’s Communication Studies Department achieved major successes at the National Communication Association’s 93rd annual convention, held this year in Chicago on Nov. 14-18. The National Communication Association (NCA), founded in 1914, is the oldest and largest academic organization devoted to communication studies.

This year, nine faculty and staff from the department presented on 17 panels and preconference sessions. Graduate students Megan Morrissey and Armond Towns also presented scholarship on panels.

Here are some NCA convention highlights.

• Dr. Chris Poulos won the 2007 Ellis-Bochner Autoethnography and Personal Narrative Research Award. He was presented with a plaque and a cash prize at the business meeting of the Ethnography Division.
• Dr. Spoma Jovanovic ’s article “Communication Ethics and Ethical Culture: A Study of the Ethics Initiative in Denver City Government” (co-authored with Dr. Roy Wood, University of Denver) won Top Journal Article honors from the Communication Ethics Division. The article appeared in November 2006 issue of the Journal of Applied Communication Research . Dr. Jovanovic also was elected vice chair of NCA’s Communication Ethics division, a post that moves her into the chair position in two years. UNCG’s Dr. Poulos and Dr. Bracci are past chairs of this division.
• Dr. Etsuko Kinefuchi ’s work “From Authenticity to Geographies: Unpacking Japaneseness in the Construction of Nikkeijin Identity” was selected for the Top Paper panel in the International and Intercultural Communication Division.
• Kim Cuny and Sarah Wilde each received a Communication Centers Section service award. The awards recognize them for planning and executing an outstanding spring mini-conference (held on the UNCG campus).
• Dr. Roy Schwartzman ’s “Service-Learning Pathologies and Prognoses” was selected for the Top Paper panel in the Experiential Learning in Communication Division. This is his fifth top paper panel at NCA in four different divisions. Dr. Schwartzman also was elected vice president of the Association for the Rhetoric of Science and Technology. He will assume the presidency in 2009.