Search
Member Login

Call for SSCA Award Nominations

 
The Southern States Communication Association announces the acceptance of nominations, including self-nominations, for its annual awards. Please help us recognize the work of deserving members and celebrate their contributions to our discipline by soliciting and encouraging nominations. Nominees must be SSCA members in good standing.
 
Submit the required materials so that all are received by all members of the appropriate committee by December 5th. Electronic submissions are strongly preferred and e-mail addresses for all committee members can be found on the SSCA website (here).
 
For all SSCA awards, a single letter of nomination is required. Although this may be written by the nominee, most nomination letters are written by colleagues who know the nominee and his or her qualifications well. The Minority Retention and Recruitment Award honors an institution. All other SSCA awards honor individuals and require the nominee's curriculum vita as well as the letter of nomination. For all SSCA awards except the Janice Hocker Rushing Early Career Research Award, a maximum of three supporting letters and five pages of additional supporting documentation may be submitted, but are not required.
 

The awards are described below, along with any additional requirements for each award.

 

*Dwight L. Freshley Outstanding New Teacher Award* honors SSCA members who have demonstrated teaching excellence early in their careers. Nominees must teach courses in communication and have taught full-time for at least two and not more than five years. In addition to the requirements noted above, each nominee must submit a statement of not more than 500 words on his or her "Philosophy and Practice of Teaching."

*John I. Sisco Excellence in Teaching Award* honors SSCA members who have consistently demonstrated excellence in teaching communication throughout their academic careers. Nominees must be employed full-time teaching courses in communication for a minimum of ten years. Submissions should include an abbreviated CV including notation of previous awards and at least one of the support letters submitted must be from a current or former student. In addition to the requirements noted above, each nominee must submit a statement of not more than 500 words on his or her "Philosophy and Practice of Teaching."

*Janice Hocker Rushing Early Career Research Award* honors SSCA members who have demonstrated exceptional scholarly ability through research and publication early in their academic careers. Nominees must be untenured, assistant professors in the field of communication, and no more than five years shall have passed between nominee's appointment to the rank of assistant professor (or receipt of terminal degree) and the time of the award. In addition, nominees must have participated in the program of the annual convention at least twice (or participated once in the convention program and published an article in the Southern Communication Journal). In addition to the requirements noted above, a maximum of three (3) representative publications by the nominee must be submitted.

*Shawn D Long Outreach Award* honors SSCA members who have made significant contributions to the profession by facilitating the success and access of under-represented populations or the integration of specific groups of students, professionals, or scholars into the communication discipline or professional organizations. The significant contribution may be the initiation of a major activity, the completion of a major project, or represent a lifetime of work with numerous individuals or on numerous meaningful activities. The scope of the activity may be national, regional, or local, and might involve mentoring, advising, liaison, or other activities.

*T. Earle Johnson-Edwin Paget Distinguished Service Award* honors SSCA members who, through their service and leadership to the Association and the profession, have made significant contributions and merit recognition.

*Michael M. Osborn Teacher-Scholar Award* honors SSCA members who have balanced professional careers, having achieved excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service.

*Minority Recruitment and Retention Award* honors institutions that have demonstrated noteworthy commitment to the recruitment and retention of minority students for their campuses. Departments can nominate other departments or nominate themselves if they believe they are worthy of receiving this distinguished award. In addition to the nomination letter, a maximum of five additional supporting documents that demonstrates the nominated department’s success with recruitment and retention of marginalized students can be included in the nomination packet. Examples of supporting documentation can include enrollment numbers of marginalized students, awards for marginalized students, initiatives related to DEI in the nominee’s department, etc.

*Susanne Osborn Community College Outstanding Educator Award* recognizes SSCA members who have made an outstanding contribution teaching at a community college. Nominees must have a minimum of five years teaching experience at a community college. The nominee must provide materials demonstrating evidence of excellence in teaching, service to the profession, and scholarship.

*J. Donald Ragsdale Award for Mentoring* honors SSCA members for demonstrating outstanding achievement in mentoring junior colleagues. For the purpose of this award, mentoring may be in general any kind of deliberate activity that fosters the career development of a colleague, colleagues, or students. A list of mentoring activities should be provided to demonstrate excellence in this area.