Council of Communication Associations Meeting
February 9, 2001
Washington, DC
Call to Order: Putnam called the meeting to order 12:30 p.m. in the conference room of the Annenberg Washington, D.C. Program.
Introductions: Putnam opened the meeting by asking the delegates to introduce themselves and to indicate the association they represented and the college or university with which they are affiliated.
Norman Bradburn: Gaudino introduced Norman Bradburn, Deputy Director, National Science Foundation, Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Division. Bradurn then summarized the programs within the SBE that would be of interest to Communication scholars, giving particular attention to NSF initiatives. He then discussed efforts to significantly increase the overall NSF budget. Of particular interest to CCA is the plan to increase SBE funding beginning in fiscal year 2003. Bradburn also spoke to the concern of CCA members that the reporting of doctoral degrees by NSF categorizes Communication as a professional degree. After listening to the arguments offered by the delegate, Bradburn agreed to look into the possibility of changing the way Communication is represented in the study. The delegates thanked Bradburn for the work he is doing at NSF and for taking the time to meet with CCA.
Approval of agenda: Putnam reviewed the agenda that had been distributed prior to the meeting and called for changes or additions. Hearing none, the agenda was approved by consensus of the delegates.
Approval of minutes: Gaudino requested that the delegate waive the approval of the minutes from the 1999 meeting because they had not yet been recovered from the warehouse that is currently storing the material removed from NCA’s Annandale offices following the fire. He noted that he was confident that he CCA materials were not seriously damaged. The delegates agreed to waive the reading of the minutes.
Report on Transition: Gaudino reported that the CCA archives had been received from Robert Cox, former CCA executive director, and that they had been stored in the NCA National Office. The files had been successfully recovered from the Annandale office following the fire and had been given to a company specializing in fire recovery for cleaning. The files were still being stored in a warehouse. Gaudino also reported that CCA funds had not been transferred from Austin, and that he had not yet had time to establish a Washington, DC bank account for CCA. He would make that a high priority as soon as he completed the move of NCA into its new offices. Gaudino concluded by thanking the delegates for their patience during the period following he fire in the NCA offices.
Old Business
Incorporation: Gaudino reported that he had twice initiated efforts to incorporate CCA in Washington, DC, as directed by the delegates. On both occasions, legal counsel had strongly advised that CCA not undertake incorporation until such time as it engaged in activities that might introduce claims for which it could be liable (e.g., conference and conventions). Currently, CCA risk of liability is very small and its administrative and financial resources limited. Therefore, counsel suggests that the annual administrative requirements of a corporation outweigh the protection offered against claims made against the association. A motion was then made, seconded, and carried that CCA not file for incorporation at this time.
CIP 2000: Sherry Morreale, NCA Associate Director for Instructional Programs, summarized efforts by CCA and NCA to influence the Department of Education’s Classification of Instructional Programs 2000. She distributed a current draft of the CIP 2000 for Communication (i.e., Category 09) and noted that it was a significant improvement over the previous descriptions. Following her introduction, Steven XXX described the efforts to produce the draft and entertained questions and comments. The delegates asked that the work “disseminate” be added to the description of the area of study and that all references to “communications” be changed to “communication.” Steven agreed to make the changes. He also noted that many copies of the document existed on different computers in various departments. This created the possibility for confusion and the need for CCA to remain vigilant that the final printed copies include these changes. Gaudino complimented XXX for the effective and efficient review process he had managed and thanked him for visiting with CCA. A motion was then made, seconded, and carried authorizing the Chair and Executive Director to formally express CCA’s appreciation to Secretary of the Department of Education and other appropriate government officials.
NRC Study of Research Doctoral Programs: By consensus of the delegates, the discussion of the National Research Council project be delayed until Saturday when more time could be devoted to the topic.
New Business
NCA’s Participation in National Initiatives: Morreale and James Applegate summarized NCA’s efforts to support a number of national initiatives in higher education and invited the CCA member organizations to share those resources. Included in the discussion were:
Carnegie grant project on the scholarship of teaching and learning: Morreale reported that this national initiative seeks to promote the scholarship of teaching and learning to same status as traditional research topics. The Carnegie Foundation funds the project by supporting efforts initiated by campuses, disciplinary associations, and individual Carnegie scholars. NCA is involved in the project both as a recipient of a Carnegie grant and by having three members being designated as Carnegie Scholars. NCA’s efforts include the development of printed materials (e.g., disciplinary styles book), WWW resources, conference and convention programs, and campus-based symposia.
AAHE grant project on service learning: Morreale reported that NCA is in the third year of a grant from Association for the Advancement of Higher Education and Campus Compact to promote service learning within its membership. NCA has developed a resource team and a tool kit that are available to CCA membership organizations who are interested in developing service learning projects in their associations.
Communicating Common Ground: Morreale reported that CCG is a specific implementation of a service learning project, and that it has now has developed its own leadership team and funding sources. It involves partnerships between AAHE, Campus Compact, and the Southern Poverty Law Center. At the local level, the project involves partnerships between college or university communication classes and K-12 classes or community groups. The first year of the project involved the development of leadership teams and a set of initial participants that now serve as model programs. Morreale reported that NCA would welcome participation by other CCA member associations.
Preparing Future Faculty: Morreale reported that the American Association of Colleges and Universities and the Council of Graduate Schools fund this project. The national initiative initially involved the funding of graduate schools. In the mid 90’s, the funding sources developed disciplinary programs in the sciences. At the same time, NCA initiated a Planning Future Communication Program using its own funds. Three years later, NCA’s efforts were used as a model the for the current project, which involves NCA, American Political Science Association, American Psychological Association, National Council of Teachers of English, American Sociological Association, and American Historical Association. The project is beginning to broaden its scope from a focus primarily on socialization of a future faculty to a variety of professional settings to a re-envisioning of the doctorate. NCA would welcome participation by other CCA organizations in this national initiative.
Recess: A recess was called at 4:30 p.m.
The meeting was reconvened at 9:00 a.m. in the Mentor Room of the NCA National Office.
NRC Study of Research Doctorates: Putnam opened the discussion with a summary of the October 1999 meeting with Jim Voytuk, senior staff officer at the National Research Council. He works Charlotte Kuh, Executive Director in the Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel. At the initial meeting, CCA members made presentations about the field, including the results of the CCA survey of doctorates, the number of applicants for Ph.D. programs, the number of doctoral students who matriculate, and number of graduates from communication programs. We reported that communication averages about 330 doctoral students per year from 1995-1999.
Voytuk reported that NRC receives their data from the National Science Foundation’s study of earned doctorates. He had recalculated the number of communication doctorates using the NSF data that informed the previous NRC study and using the categories suggested by the NCA staff . Based on this analysis, the NRC data shows 1,443 communication doctoral students from 1986-1990, suggesting that the number of Ph.D. students produced does not appear to be a factor that would preclude inclusion of communication in the next study.
Voytuk also reported that the NSF Study of Earned Doctorates categorizes Communication as a professional or applied doctorate degree. Because the NRC study is of research doctorates, CCA must make the case that a PhD in communication is a research rather than a professional degree.
During the resulting discussion by CCA delegates, consensus was reached on the following action steps:
1. Influencing NRC with campuses representatives
a. CCA will form a committee comprised of person from each member association. Bill Eadie will chair the committee . The committee will be responsible for identifying and working with a representative from each communication doctoral program.
Action Item: Eadie and Putnam
b. Each communication doctoral program to identify appropriate senior administrative officials from their campus to write a letter to NRC requesting that communication be included in the next study. Putnam will prepare a sample letter.
Action Item: Eadie and Putnam
c. Communication doctoral program representatives will meet with NRC staff whenever possible to discuss the need to include communication in the next Research Doctoral Degree study. When possible, these meeting should also be attended by the upper level administratrators who are the primary audience for the study.
2. Survey of communication doctoral programs
a. CCA will form a committee to conduct study of communication doctoral programs. Charles Self will chair this committee. Linda Putnam will assist in the survey design.
Action Item: Self and Putnam
b. Working with list of programs provided by the committee chaired by Eadie (see above), each CCA member association will identify its top 10 – 20 programs for inclusion in the study. A letter will be sent to the representative of each of the selected programs soliciting their cooperation in the survey project. Each association will also provide a list of the top 10-20 programs in the field. The president of each CCA member association will sign the letter.
Action Item: Eadie
c. Develop and administer a survey instrument that includes:
1) Detailed information on the placement of your doctoral students for the past five years.
2) Detailed information on doctoral program requirements, research methods training, type of dissertation, research experience in program, and nature of preparation for what type of degree.
3) A list of faculty and graduate students who have received significant fellowships resulting from national or international competitions (e.g., Fullbright, Guggenheim, ACLS, etc.).
Action Item: Putnam and Self
d. Gaudino will contact Lee Becker to determine if the data he collects will be of use in the project and if he would be interested in assisting.
Action Item: Gaudino
e. Nielsen will check with researchers in the broadcast industry to determine the nature of jobs as related to their doctoral degrees.
Action Item: Nielsen
3. Contact between communication research leaders and members of the methodology committee.
a. Sponsor a meeting between the members of the NRC methodology committee and a diverse sample of reputable communication researchers. These scholars should include those:
1) With strong interdisciplinary reputations .
2) With significant experience in federal funding .
3) With experience in policy research .
Action Item: Gaudino
b. Use the meeting as an opportunity to disseminate the results of the above studies.
4. Survey of grants and funding agencies
a. CCA will form a committee to continue and expand the study of communication research grants conducted by NCA. James Applegate will chair this committee.
Action Item: Applegate
b. NCA will host the on-line survey and database on http://www.natcom.org.
c. Working with list of programs provided by the committee chaired by Eadie (see above), Eadie will write letters to each department chair encouraging them to respond to the survey.
Action Item: Eadie
d. Each delegate will review the survey currently being used and will suggest changes as needed.
Action Item: All
5. Other
a. Eadie will keep CCA members updated with regular progress reports on the status of the NRC project, the organization of the Methodology Committee, and any progress in specifying times in which associations could appeal for inclusion in the next study.
b. Gaudino will follow-up with Norm Bradburn regarding changes in the NSF Survey of Earned Doctorates.
Changes in CCA’s structure: Putnam suggested that some thought should be given to CCA’s structure and its systems for facilitating coordination of projects and its communication between meetings.
During discussion, CCA delegates suggested the following:
1. It is difficult to maintain momentum on projects between the annual meetings of CCA. Greater use can be made of the CCA listserv and the CCA www site. These channels may be particularly useful in coordinating projects and in keeping CCA delegates informed of their progress.
2. The two-year term of office for delegates to CCA makes it difficult to accomplish long-term tasks. Consideration should be given to examining the CCA constitution and bylaws to provide greater flexibility for the member societies and to encourage more continuity of representation. Gaudino was asked to review the governing documents and to suggest changes at the next meeting.
Action Item: Gaudino
3. Having CCA managed by an executive director of a member society places a heavy burden on the individual and conflates the role of CCA and the specific member association from which the director is selected. Consideration should be given to creating a mechanism for obtaining the services of an independent executive, either in a paid or a volunteer role. Each member organization agreed to discuss the possibility of funding such a position with their respective governance bodies.
Action Item: All delegates
4. The CCA delegates discussed the potential of having CCA become a formal lobbying agent for the communication discipline. Gaudino agreed to investigate the legal requirements of creating such an organization. Each delegate agreed to discuss the potential with his or her governing body.
Action Item: All delegates
Election of Officers: The Board discussed the importance of maintaining continuity of leadership while the effort to influence NRC remained CCA’s top priority. A motion was made, seconded, and carried to suspend the require specified by he CCA Constitution and Bylaws that delegates from member associations serve for only two years. A motion was then made, seconded, and carried that Linda Putnam serve a second year as chair of CCA.
Next meeting: Noting that the present meeting was initially scheduled for October 2000 and that there exists a need for an additional meeting, the delegates agreed to meet again during 2001. The delegates agreed to meet during the weekends of October 12th or 19th. The date will be determined via email after consulting with calendars. The meeting will be held in Washington, D.C.
Reports of association activities: A delegate from each association reported on the activities of t heir organization.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 12:30 p.m.
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