The Executive Council of the Southern States Communication Association was called to order by President Kate Hawkins on Wednesday, April 2, 2002 at 6:00 p.m. in the Birmingham Sheraton, Birmingham, Alabama.  Those present were:  Kate Hawkins, President; Hal Fulmer, Executive Director; Ann Kelly, SSCA Executive Assistant; Trudy Hanson, Immediate Past President; Terry Thibodeaux, Vice President Elect; Dianna Wynn, Community College; Margaret D'Silva, Popular Communication; Cole Franklin,  Instructional Development; Michelle Violanti, Finance; Tamara Bollis, Gender and Language/Social Interaction; Michael Eaves, NCA Nominating Committee; Chuck Grant, Applied Communication; Emmett Winn, Kenneth Burke Society; John Allen Hendricks, Mass Communication; Charles Howard, Rhetoric and Public Address; Mary Evelyn Collins, Ad-Hoc Committee on Fund-Raising; Janice Rushing, Osborn Award Committee; John Wittig, Placement; Joy Hart, SCJ Editor; Pamela Bourland-Davis, Advertising Manager; Marilyn Young, Vice President; Amy Burt, Performance Studies; Hope Bock, Intercultural Communication; Jay Bourne, Southern Forensics Association; Nina-Jo Moore, Minority Recruitment and Retention; Karen Holmes Huggin, Gender; Ken Cissna, Immediate Past Editor, Publications Committee; Amanda Borden, Local Arrangements; Richard Ranta, Johnson-Paget Award Committee, Carl Cates, Finance.

President Hawkins welcomed all present and the minutes of the Executive Council meeting from New Orleans (November 2002) were approved.  The agenda was approved and a five minute limit for debate on each proposal was also approved.

In the Officers' Reports, President Hawkins distributed a handout detailing her activities as president since the New Orleans meetings.  Highlights included the officers' strategic planning retreat she initiated, which was held in Memphis in January and a follow-up panel to discuss this retreat scheduled for the Birmingham conference.  Other highlights included the creation of descriptions for the SSCA Awards by the awards committees (approved by the Executive Council in New Orleans); work with the Constitution and Finance committees to develop motions which were initiated at the retreat; the preparation and distribution of materials for the division and interest group chairs to assist these individuals in their responsibilities; the preparation of a resolution concerning changed standards in the SACS accreditation process; and general work with the Executive Director, Vice President, and Editor.

Vice President Young reported that she had planned the Birmingham conference, which included 110 panels, 20 business meetings, and a variety of receptions and special events.  Over 400 individuals are scheduled to participate in the conference.  Vice President Young also negotiated the participation of the keynote speaker, Pulitzer Prize winning author, Diane McWhorter, who will speak at the Awards Luncheon.

Immediate Past President Hanson noted that her duties included work on proposed changes to the SSCA constitution following the officers' retreat; the planning of a program slot at the Birmingham conference which targets high school speech teachers; and the inviting of area high school speech teachers to the conference.

Vice President Elect Thibodeaux reported on the Undergraduate Honors Conference and noted that 103 papers had been submitted and 72 papers had been accepted for presentation.

Executive Director Fulmer announced the following election results:  For Vice President Elect:  Ken Cissna, for NCA Nominating Committee:  Cole Franklin, for NCA Legislative Council:  Lea Clayton.  He noted that pre-registration numbers were down and he attributed this to the economy and the uncertainty of travel due to the Iraq war.  He anticipated that over 400 people would register for the convention.  He thanked Amanda Borden for her outstanding work as Local Arrangements Chair.  He distributed membership and financial reports, noting that UHC students will no longer be included in the general membership report.  He also noted that the Association was in good shape financially but that the proposals forthcoming from the Finance Committee were critical to the long-term financial success of the Association, especially with regard to the journal exchange program.  He reminded members that the SSCA directory was available and on sale at the registration area.

Advertising Manager Bourland-Davis reported that all ad space for the Journal had been sold for the year and that rates for ad space will increase for the 2003-2004 year.  This will mark the first rate increase in five years.  She also reported that exhibit and conference program ads brought in over $4800 for the Birmingham conference.  She noted that only four universities took part in promoting their graduate programs at the UHC reception and she encouraged members to consider this activity in the future.  To justify the costs for this activity, approximately 10 universities will need to participate.

Journal Editor Hart reported that she was making progress in getting the Journal issues completed and that the Fall 2003 issue would be out on time.

There was no report from the NCA Legislative Council representatives.

Immediate Past Journal Editor Cissna reported that the Rose B. Johnson/SCJ Award would be presented at the Awards Luncheon.

In the Standing Committee Reports, Vice President Young reported that the Committee on Committees would meet on Sunday morning.

Diana Wynn, representing the Constitution Committee, made the following recommendations, all of which were approved unanimously with any changes noted:

Motion 1:

Amend Article IV:  Officers as follows—

Section 1.  Officers:  Delete F. "The Webpage Editor" and renumber Section 1 to reflect the deletion.

Section 4.  Duties of Officers.  Add at A. (duties of the President) a new (3) Provides oversight over divisions and interest groups; and renumber A. to reflect this addition.

Section 4.  Duties of Officrs.  Add at D. (duties of the Executive Director) as the fifth sentence "The Executive Director shall appoint a newsletter editor and a Webpage Editor); and delete from the sixth sentence the word "edit" and replace it with the word "publish."

Section 4.  Delete F (duties of the Webpage Editor)

Section 4.  Delete H from Section 4 and move it to Article V. 1.

Section 4.  Add a new G.  "The Immediate Past President shall chair the Nominating Committee and other duties accepted in consultation with the President."

Section 4.  Add a new H.  "The Executive Committee includes the President, Vice President, Vice President-Elect, The Executive Director, The Journal Editor, the Advertising Manager, and the Immediate Past President."

Re-enumerate Section 4.  Duties of Officers to reflect the changes.

Motion 2:

Amend Article V.  Executive Council as follows:

Section 1.  Add as the last sentence in the section the language moved from Article IV. Section 4 H (above) regarding the report of the High School, College and Community/Two Year College Representatives to the Legislative Council of the National Communication Association to the Executive Council.

Section 5.  Emergency procedures:  delete "by telephone" from sentence two and delete "by letter" from sentence three.

Motion 3:

Amend Article VI.  Meetings as follows:

Section 2.  Annual Convention:  Identify the first paragraph of Section 2.  Annual Convention:  as A; Add B. "Regional Rotation—Whenever possible, the Time and Place Committee should seek to systematically rotate the Annual Convention site among the several geographical regions within the larger region covered by the Southern States Communication Association."

Add C. "Local Arrangements—An SSCA member living in or near the host convention city shall chair a local committee to assist the Executive Committee with convention arrangements."

Re-enumerate Section 2.  Annual Convention to reflect these additions.

Add Section 3.  "Strategic Planning Meeting—Upon the call of the President, the Executive Committee, Immediate Past Executive Director, Chair of the Finance Committee, and other appropriate members as designated by the President, shall meet for the purpose of strategic planning.  No more than five years shall elapse between such meetings."

Section 3.  Quorum:  renumber as Section 4.

Motion 4:

Amend Article VII:  Nominations, Elections, and Appointments as follows:

Section 1.  Nominating Committee:  add to the third sentence under (1) the word "selection" between "this" and "may be done"; delete the first sentence of (3) and replace it with "The Immediate Past President shall chair the Nominating Committee.

Section 4.  Officers to be Appointed:  Delete at A. Webpage Editor and at B. add "and" between "Director" and "Journal Editor" and delete "Webpage Editor."

Motion 5

Amend Article VIII:  Dues and Fees as follows:

Section 1.  Categories:  Add A. before the sentence "Dues and fees of the Association shall be established for the following categories" and change the enumerators from capital letters to cardinal numbers; delete at H. (new 8) the word "Convention" and add in its place "Honors Conference"; delete I. and J; change the identifier section 2 to B.

Add as Section 2.  The Executive Director and Advertising Manager, in consultation with the Executive Board, shall set fees for the following:  individual copies of the Southern Communication Journal, advertising fees for the Southern Communication Journal, exhibitor fees, international fees and webpage ads for job postings.  [The Executive Council approved this motion with the following changes:   "Executive Committee" to replace "Executive Board" and  "…. shall set fees for the following:  library subscriptions, individual copies of the Southern Communication Journal, advertising fees for the Southern Communication Journal, exhibitor fees, international postal surcharges, and ads for job postings."]

Motion 6

Amend Article IX:  Committees as follows:

Section 1.  Standing Committees.  Delete (5);

Delete from sentence one of (8) "receive all invitations for future conventions of the Association, and after due consideration, to make appropriate recommendations to the Executive Council" and replace it with "socialite and receive competitive bids from cites for the annual convention";

Delete numbers (9) through (15) from Section 1 and move these to IX Section 1. Standing Committees: as a new B. Awards Committees.

Add as a new (8) Minority Recruitment and Retention Committee, whose purpose is to recruit and retain underrepresented populations as members and determine the receipient of the Minority Recruitment/Retention Award. 

Add as a new (9) Resource Development Committee, whose purpose is to research, plan, and develop financial resources and fundraisers to benefit the organization.  The Executive Director shall serve as an ex-officio member of this committee;

Add a new B. Awards Committees, containing items (9) through (15) moved from Section 1.A. to be renumbered (1) through (7) respectively.

Change B. to C;

Delete at the old B. Appointments from (1) The President, Vice President, Vice President Elect, Executive Director, Editor, Webpage Editor, and the retiring President and replace this language with "The Executive Committee, the retiring" so (1) will now read "The Committee on Committees shall consist of the Executive Committee, the retiring Editor, and retiring Executive Director."

Add a new (2) Standing Committees should consist of 3 members in good standing;

Change the old (2) to (3), adding after Standing Committees "and Awards Committees" deleting "and" after "Nominating Committee" and adding "and the Rose B. Johnson Award Committee" after "the Committee on Committees";

Change the old (3) to (4).

Motion 7:

Amend Article X:  Divisions as follows:

Section 2.  Division  Names:  add to the third sentence after membership "determined 60 days prior to the meeting of the Executive Committee at the annual convention."

Add as a fourth sentence "The Executive Director shall notify divisions of probationary status when membership falls below 5%."

Add to the old fourth sentence after officers "shall result in the Divisional status being revoked and the division will become an Interest Group."

Section 5.  Officers.  Add at the end of (2) "and ascends to the office of Chair"; add a new (3) "The Vice Chair-Elect who ascends to the office of Vice Chair and assists the Chair with divisional responsibilities";

Change the old (3) to (4).

Motion 8

Amend Article XI:  Interest Groups as follows:

Section 2.  Interest Group Names:  delete from the second sentence "1%" and replace it with "2%";

Delete the third sentence and replace it with "Any Interest Group failing to attract 2% of the membership (as determined 60 days prior to the meeting of the Executive Committee at the annual convention) shall be placed on a one-year probationary status during which time it has the opportunity to achieve the minimum.  Failing to achieve the minimum or failing to elect officers or failing to submit a program or failing to submit minutes of the business meeting to the Executive Director will have its status as an Interest Group revoked";

Delete from the fourth sentence after guaranteed "a one time slot in the convention program; this time slot may be used either for a business meeting or a program" and replace that language with "one program slot and one business meeting."

Section 3.  Membership:  Delete 2 and replace it with 1.

Section 5.  Officers.  Delete at A. The Secretary, who and replace it with "The Interest Group."

Section 6.  Establishment of new Interest Groups:  In the second sentence, delete "1%" and replace it with "2%".

President Hawkins offered formal thanks to the Constitution Committee, chaired by Terry Cole, on behalf of the Association for its work on the revisions noted above.

Finance Committee Chair Violanti made the following recommendations which were approved unanimously:

Motion 1:

Membership:

Regular membership from $40 to $45

Student membership from $20 to $25

Sustaining membership from $75 to $85

Patron membership from $140 to $185

International Shipping Surcharge from $15 to $25

Convention:

Regular pre-registration from $40 to $45

Student pre-registration from $20 to $25

Non-member pre-registration from $60 to $65

Regular convention registration from $45 to $55

Student convention registration from $25 to $30

Non-Member convention registration from $70 to $80

Additional Services:

Back issues for the Journal from $8 to $12

Article reprints from $50 to $100

Regional journals from $45 to $80

Library Subscriptions:

U.S. Library through an agency increase to $45 in 2003-2004 and to $50 in 2004-2005

U.S. Library retail to $50 in 2003-2004 and to $55 in 2004-2005

International Library through an agency to $75 in 2003-2004 and to $80 in 2004-2005

International Library retail to $80 in 2003-2004 and to $85 in 2004-2005

Motion 2

Credit Card Acceptance

Use PayPal and charge members using a credit card a $5.00 handling fee to cover the additional time required to process these transactions.

The following recommendations required approval of the Executive Council:

Following the report and recommendations above by the Finance Committee Chair, President Hawkins recessed the meeting until 8:00 a.m. the following morning.

The Executive Council was called back into session by President Hawkins at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, April 3, 2003.  Those present  from Wednesday's session were:  Hawkins, Fulmer, Hanson, Thibodeaux, Wynn, D'Silva, Grant, Eaves, Winn, Hendricks, Howard, Hart, Collins, Cissna, Young, Burt, Bock, Moore, Bourne, Franklin, Borden, Ranta, Cates, Bollis, Huggin, Wittig,  Also at the Thursday session were:  J.D. Ragsdale, Interpersonal Communication; Jean DeHart, NCA Legislative Council and Political Communication; Jane Morgan, NCA Nominating Committee; Sue Pendell, Executive Director, Western States Communication Association.

Finance Committee Chair Violanti recommended the Association's budget for 2003-2004 and the recommended budget was approved unanimously.

Nina-Jo Moore noted that the Minority Recruitment and Retention Committee had no panels and no award nominees at the Birmingham conference; she pledged that the Committee would be more proactive in the future.

There was no report from the Nominating Committee or Placement Committee.

Publications Committee Chair Cissna distributed a handout, noting the Association's forthcoming discussions concerning a new publisher for the Journal.  A new editor will be selected during the upcoming year and appropriate venues will be used to announce this call.  The Publications Committee also made the following recommendation concerning the Journal style sheet which was approved unanimously:

"That SCJ encourages submission of manuscripts following any recognized style manual.  Before they are accepted for publication, all manuscripts must conform to the [inset editor's preferred style manual]."

Time and Place Chair Thibodeaux reported on possible sites for the 2006 conference, noting that the strongest interest came from the Dallas-Fort Worth area.  His committee recommended that this area (DFW) be accepted as the site of the 2006 conference and that the Time and Place Committee, in conjunction with the Executive Director, select the best hotel property for the conference.  This recommendation was approved unanimously.

Executive Director Fulmer noted that Resolutions would be presented at the Award luncheon and encouraged the submission of resolutions prior to that time.

Local Arrangements Chair Borden reported that 18 student interns from Samford University were involved in local arrangement activities for the conference.  She acknowledged the help of UAB members, Jean Bodon, Mark Hickson, and John Wittig and reminded members to take advantage of the Hospitality Booth, staffed by the Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Co-Chairs Ranta and Collins, Ad-Hoc Committee on Fund-Raising and Development, indicated they would report their progress electronically to the Executive Director and forward relevant materials to the chair of the new Resource Development Committee.  Frances Brandau-Brown made a brief report on the Caring Connections fund-raiser, noting that $705 had been generated in pre-convention revenues for the project.

Chairs of the Divisions and Interest Groups made reports, indicating the number of panels each would have at the conference.  The Community College Division noted that it was honoring long-time member Richard Quianthy with its divisional award.  The Mass Communication report urged the Association to consider moving its conference time to avoid a conflict with MC members who wish to attend the annual BEA convention in Las Vegas.

There was no unfinished business.

There was no new business.

Following brief announcements, President Hawkins adjourned the Executive Council at 10:30 a.m.