Executive Council Annual Meeting
Minutes of the Executive Council
Southern States Communication Association
Annual Meeting
Wyndham Harbour Island Hotel
March 31, 2004
President Marilyn Young called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. and welcomed all members. Present were: Ken Cissna (VP-Elect and Local Arrangements), Dick Quianthy (Intercultural), Deborah Hefferin (Community College), Debbie Phillips (Resolutions), Karen Holmes-Higgin (Gender), Lynne Webb (Osborn Award), Terry Cole (Freedom of Speech), Cole Franklin (NCA Nom Comm), Mary Evelyn Collins (UHC ad-hoc comm.), Dennis Robertson (Mass Comm), William Harpine (ASHR), Emmett Winn (Nominating Comm and Popular), Carl Cates (Finance and ACA), Tina Harris (Minority Recruitment and Retention), Bob Frank (Finance), Jean DeHart (NCA Legislative Assembly and Political), Mary Stuckey (Rhetoric and Public Address), Bob Denton (Resource Development), Katherine Hendrix (Sisco Award), Chuck Tardy, Rodney Reynolds (Interpersonal), Joy Hart (SCJ Editor), Scott Dillard (Performance Studies), Pamela Bourland-Davis (Ad Manager and Public Relations), Terry Thibodeaux (Vice President), Sabrena Parton (Applied), Trudy Hanson (Time and Place), Steve Madden (Instructional Development), Charles Howard (Constitution), Craig Smith (Voting and Participation Ad-Hoc), Sally Bell (Gender), Teresa Taylor (Mass Comm), Dan DeGooyer (Language/Social Interaction), Michael Waltman (Outreach Award), Tamara Bollis (Gender), Hal Fulmer (Executive Director).
The minutes of the Executive Council meeting at NCA in Miami Beach in November 2003 were approved. The agenda was approved with minor revisions in the order. President Young introduced the officers of the Association and made her presidential report and distributed two handouts summarizing her activities. Vice President Thibodeaux offered the conference program as his report. He made a motion that the Bostrom Award be recognized as an Associate award in the Constitution and that each division/interest group nominate only one full-time graduate student for this award at the time of submission. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
Immediate Past President Hawkins was unable to attend the meeting but forwarded her report to President Young who read it to the members. Vice President Elect Cissna reported on the UHC, noting that he had received 106 papers and that 78 papers were scheduled for presentation. Executive Director Fulmer presented reports on the membership and finances of the Association. He announced the election of Chuck Tardy as the Association's Vice President-Elect for the 2005 conference (and president of the 2007 conference). He reported that over 250 people had preregistered for the conference. Ad Manager Bourland-Davis offered her report that all SCJ ads for the year were sold and that ads and exhibits for the conference had generated $5000 in revenue. As part of her duties as chair of the ad-hoc committee to select the next Ad Manager, Bourland-Davis brought forward the recommendation of Jean DeHart as the next AM. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously. President Young noted that Dr. Bourland-Davis "has set a high standard" for this position of Ad Manager.
Editor Hart presented a handout summarizing the activities of the Journal. To date, she has received 236 submissions. There are two special issues remaining: Organizational Discourse and Computers and Communication.
There was no report from the NCA Legislative Assembly representative (this report is typically made at the EC during NCA). Standing Committee reports were as follows:
The Constitution Committee recommended that the UHC be named in honor of the late Ted Clevenger. This motion was tabled for discussion at the EC on the following morning. The Finance Committee presented the budget for the next year; it was seconded and approved unanimously. Local Arrangements chair Cissna presented a report and information via a handout. Time and Place recommended the approval of Louisville (2007) and Savannah (2008) as sites for upcoming Association conferences. These were seconded and approved unanimously. President Young recessed the meeting at 8:00 p.m.
President Young called the meeting back to order at 8:00 a.m. on April 1. Resource Development Chair Denton made a presentation of materials relative to Association activities in this area and also noted that a history of the Association needs to be written. Much discussion followed and the Development Plan and Case Statement were endorsed in principle unanimously by the Council.
The following Ad-Hoc Committees reports were made:
Journal Search (chaired by Richard Conville) recommended John Meyer as the next Southern Communication Journal Editor. The motion passed unanimously. The Electronic and Consortium Publishing Committee (Ken Cissna, chair) reported on a variety of issues, including proposals by EBSCO and Taylor and Frances. Much discussion ensued. The Council approved the sending of Norm Clark to a CIOS meeting in New York over the summer. Voting and Participation (Craig Smith, chair) presented a number of issues relative to its charge, including the need for a survey of the membership. Considerable discussion followed, including the value-added activity of participating in SSCA and attending its conference. Executive Director Fulmer (Search for ED) presented Emmett Winn as the candidate for the next Executive Director (2005-2010). The motion was approved unanimously. The UHC Enhancement (M.E. Collins, Chair) proposed the naming of the UHC after Ted Clevenger. The motion passed unanimously. The Shirley Award for the top UHC paper was recommended as an Association Award and that the Constitution be revised accordingly. The motion passed unanimously.
Division chairs reported, in general noting that submissions were up in most cases.
There was no unfinished business. New business included the elevation of Political Communication from an interest group to a division. Having met the requirements for this move, the Council approved it unanimously. The Council voted unanimously to honor the late Janice Hocker Rushing by adding her name to the Association's Early Career Research Award. An offer to select future convention sites from Helms-Briscoe was declined by the Council. Rich Emanuel noted concerns over recent SACS-COC changes which dropped specific requirements for oral communication proficiency. Vice-President Thibodeaux offered to consider an ad-hoc committee to explore these concerns. Katherine Hendrix recommended that the Sisco Award be constitutionally changed to reflect the "master teacher" status associated with this award by requiring that recipients be teachers for a minimum of 10 years. The motion was approved unanimously.
Brief announcements followed and President Young adjourned the meeting at 10:48 p.m.
