About
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Applied Communication
Mission Statement
The Applied Communication Interest Group focuses on the application of theory and research to practical issues, problems, and situations.
Applied Communication research highlights the connection between theory and practice by demonstrating theoretical applications and the usefulness for potential users to understand and implement recommendations. Topics of interest to Applied Communication are contemporary social issues and the concerns of local communities that are addressed through projects grounded in communication theory.
The Applied Communication Interest Group is committed to help the general public solve socially relevant problems and to test the usefulness of communication theory in "real-world" settings.
IG Contacts
Chair: Nancy Wiencek, Rider University
Secretary: Elizabeth Jeter, High Point University
Chair 2020: Mary Donato, Buena Vista University
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2018/ends Thursday 2020): Mary Donato, Buena Vista University
2019 Planner: Nancy Wiencek, Rider University
Recent News
Argumentation and Forensics
Mission Statement
The purpose of the Argumentation and Forensics Division is to explore the various theories and practices associated with argumentation, debate, and forensics as they relate to scholarly research, classroom pedagogy, and community life.
- 2018 Business Meeting minutes
- 2018 Vice Chair Report
- 2017 Business Meeting minutes
- 2014 Business Meeting minutes
- Group By-Laws
IG Contacts
Chair: Theodore Sheckels, Randolph-Macon College
Vice Chair: Taylor Hahn, John Hopkins University
Secretary: Robert J. Green, Bloomsburg University
EC Rep: (term begins Sunday 2018/ends Thursday 2020): To be elected in 2017
2019 Planner: Theodore Sheckels, Randolph-Macon College
Recent News
Communication Administration
Mission Statement
The mission of the Communication Administration Interest Group is to promote discussion, study, criticism, research, and the application of principles of education administration for the communication disciplines.
IG Contacts
Chair: Amanda McKendree, University of Notre Dame
Secretary: Ann Bainbridge Frymeier, Miami University
Chair 2020: Mary Kahl, Penn State Behrend
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2018/ends Thursday 2020): Mary Mino, Penn State DuBois
2019 Planner: Amanda McKendree, University of Notre Dame
Recent News
Communication and Technology
Mission Statement
To encourage the exploration and dissemination of information/communication technologies that influence our perceptions of human communication endeavors.
IG Contacts
Chair: Joel Ward, Geneva College
Secretary:
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2018/ends Thursday 2020): Rod Carveth, Morgan State University
2019 Planner: Joel Ward, Geneva College
Recent News
Communication Law & Ethics
Mission Statement
Pending.
- 2014 Business Meeting minutes
- Group By-Laws (pending)
IG Contacts
Chair: Jason Zenor, SUNY Oswego
Secretary: Jason Zenor, SUNY Oswego
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2018/ends Thursday 2020): Thomas Flynn, Slippery Rock University
2019 Planner: Jason Zenor, SUNY Oswego
Recent News
Communication Traits
Mission Statement
From the earliest days of ECA, our members have been concerned with the study of such communication traits as speech anxiety and avoidance behaviors. Beginning in the late 1960's, ECA members began researching other traits related to anxiety. But until the 1990's, many researchers thought that communication anxiety was learned and that it could therefore be reduced, if not eliminated, through speech classes. In the 1990's, this view was challenged significantly. We now know that these kinds of communication problems are caused to some extent by both learning and genetics.
To advance our knowledge of the causes and effects of communication traits, further research in this area needs to be encouraged and the findings disseminated throughout our field. The Communication Traits Interest Group seeks to fulfill this function. It is our hope that, through the efforts of this interest group, communication scholars will be able to identify more communication traits and understand how to control or influence them (if possible) and to apply the knowledge gained to various areas of the study of human communication.
Trait research is a thread that runs through and can potentially inform every area of study within our field. Therefore, we encourage scholars from all areas of study to consider joining the Communication Traits interest group.
- 2014 Business Meeting minutes
- Group By-Laws
IG Contacts
Chair: Nicholas Scott Smith, Wayne State University
Secretary: Joseph Lybarger, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Chair 2020: James Durbin, Cleveland State University
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2018/ends Thursday 2020): Nicholas Scott Smith, Wayne State University
2019 Planner: Nicholas Scott Smith, Wayne State University
Recent News
Community College
Mission Statement
The mission of the Community College Interest Group is to promote the scholarship of teaching among community college communication professionals. The division explores a broad range of undergraduate, career training, and lifelong learning issues within the discipline.
Programs and initiatives focus on the ways in which communication theory, research, and skills can best serve the educational need of diverse learning communities. The division actively promotes instructional innovation and provides opportunities for professional collaboration.
IG Contacts
Chair: Michael J., Stutz, Three Rivers Community College
Secretary: Susan Ward, Delaware County Community College
Chair 2020: Andy Kai-chun Chuang, LaGuardia Community College
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2018/ends Thursday 2020): Jessica Papajcik, Stark State College
2019 Planner: Michael J., Stutz, Three Rivers Community College
Community College – GIFTS PLANNER
2019 Planner: Andy Kai-chun, LaGuardia Community College, CUNY
Recent News
Health Communication
Mission Statement
The Health Communication Interest Group of ECA studies the processes, practices, and policies related to human and mediated communication in health care and health promotion. Research presented within this division evolves from a wide range of theories and methodological approaches that often address the ways individuals seek, interpret, and respond to health information. The interest group promotes scholarship that examines communication in health education and promotion, health care consumer-provider relationships, caregiving, healthcare organizations, health policy, health campaigns and interventions, communication and aging, lifespan development, risk communication, and e-health applications. The interest group welcomes submissions from scholars at all stages in their academic career, especially those interested in exploring and applying new theoretical perspectives to health communication.
IG Contacts
Chair: Heather Carmack, University of Alabama
Secretary: Nicole Hudak, Ohio University
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2018/ends Thursday 2020):
2019 Planner: Heather Carmack, University of Alabama
Recent News
Instructional Communication
Mission Statement
The Instructional Communication Interest Group is concerned with research and its applications related to Instructional Communication and Communication Education. Instructional communication is the study of the role communication plays in the teaching and learning process in traditional classroom settings, corporate training settings, mediated settings, and other applied contexts. Research in this area typically has examined teacher/trainer and/or student/learner communication variables or modes of instruction to better understand their influence on teaching and learning. Unlike instructional communication, communication education is focused solely on the teaching of communication concepts. Research in this area, such as that related to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, focuses on the ways in which communication concepts can be taught most effectively. Together these two areas of study complement each other and provide a rich contribution of scholarship to the Eastern Communication Association.
IG Contacts
Chair: Jordan Atkinson, Missouri Western State University
Secretary: James Baker, West Virginia University
2020 Chair: Sara Labelle, Chapman University
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2018/ends Thursday 2020): Ann Frymier, Miami University
2019 Planner: Jordan Atkinson, Missouri Western State University
Recent News
Intercultural Communication
Mission Statement
The Intercultural Communication Interest Group is dedicated to the study and practice of representing, performing, and negotiating cultural identities in face-to-face interaction and mediated communication in cross-cultural and international contexts.
- 2018 Business Meeting minutes
- 2017 Business Meeting minutes
- 2014 Business Meeting minutes
- Group By-Laws
IG Contacts
Chair: Rukhsana Ahmed, University of Ottawa
Secretary: Beverly Natividad, Mt. San Jacinto College
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2018/ends Thursday 2020): Doreen Jowi| Bloomsburg University
2019 Planner: Rukhsana Ahmed, University of Ottawa
Recent News
Interpersonal Communication
Mission Statement
The purpose of the Interpersonal interest Group is to focus on research topics including, but not limited to personal relationships as well as relationships in the workplace. Personal relationships encompass families, friendships, romantic relationships, the way messages are designed and interpreted, conflict, and contexts. Organizational relationships explore culture in the work environment, friendships, and small group communication. Theoretical and applied studies are welcomed.
IG Contacts
Chair: Jenny Rosenberg, SUNY Oswego
Chair 2020: Aimee Miller-Ott, Illinois State University
Secretary: Sara Pitts, West Virginia University
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2017/ends Thursday 2019): Dana Borzea, West Virginia University
2019 Planner: Jenny Rosenberg, SUNY Oswego
Recent News
Interpretation and Performance Studies
Mission Statement
The Interpretation and Performance Studies Interest Group of the Eastern Communication Association is committed to scholarship that encompasses a range of themes, methods, and presentational outcomes that include both publication and performance. Interdisciplinary diversity and collaboration between multiple participants is advocated. The Interpretation and Performance Studies Interest Group is broadly focused on visual culture, audience experience and reception, performance, and interpretive outcomes from a variety of perspectives.
- 2016 Business Meeting minutes
- Group By-Laws
- Follow us @ECAperformance and join us on Facebook!
IG Contacts
Chair: Kathryn Hobson, James Madison University
Secretary: Shauna MacDonald, Villanova University
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2018/ends Thursday 2019): Shauna MacDonald, Villanova University
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2015/ends Thursday 2017): Christina Saindon; James Madison University
2018 Planner: Kathryn Hobson, James Madison University
Recent News
Kenneth Burke
Mission Statement
The Mission of the ECA Kenneth Burke Interest Group: Kenneth Burke is considered among the foremost "thinkers" (many would argue THE foremost literary and social critic) of the twentieth century. Known for both the breadth and depth of his understanding and explorations, Burke has been influential not only in the field of Communication but also in such studies as Literature, the Arts and Humanities, Sociology, Philosophy, and Theology. His insight into the nature of the human being and the role of language in human existence provides a complex yet compelling tapestry of ideas that scholars continue to unravel and re-weave. The purpose of the Kenneth Burke Interest Group is to promote the ongoing study, understanding, dissemination, research, critical analysis, and extension of Kenneth Burke's work.
- 2018 Business Meeting minutes
- 2017 Business Meeting minutes
- 2015 Business Meeting minutes
- Group By-Laws
IG Contacts
Chair: Cem Zeytinoglu, East Stroudsburg University of PA
Secretary: Steven Zwier, Duquesne University
Chair 2020: Cem Zeytinoglu, East Stroudsburg University of PA
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2017/ends Thursday 2019): Elvera Berry, Roberts Wesleyan College
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2019/ends Thursday 2021): Jean Miller, George Washington University
2019 Planner: Cem Zeytinoglu, East Stroudsburg University of PA
Recent News
Media Communication
Mission Statement
The purpose of the Media Communication interest group is to focus on research topics including, but not limited to, the transmission and effects of both creating and being exposed to mass and mediated messages. This includes media of all kinds including film, television, radio, print, and digital media. Members of the Media Communication interest group are engaged in research and teaching on a wide range of topics relating to traditional and new media content, form, structures, effects, computer mediated communication, and processes using various methodologies (e.g., quantitative, qualitative, rhetorical, critical/interpretive). The way mediated messages are designed and interpreted is the main focus of the division and therefore scholarship of any methodology that draws on the strengths of any of the established traditions in order to develop discourse and scholarship in traditional, contemporary and emerging concentrations in both mass and mediated communication is welcome.
- 2014 Business Meeting minutes
- Group By-Laws (draft)
IG Contacts
Chair: Holly Giselle Purcell, Wayne State University
Secretary: Noura Hajjaj, SUNY New Paltz
EC Rep: Colin Kearney (term begins Sunday 2017/ends Thursday 2019):
2019 Planner: Holly Giselle Purcell, Wayne State University
Recent News
Nonverbal Communication
Mission Statement
The Nonverbal Communication Interest Group seeks to provide an outlet for communication scholars interested in those aspects of communication that are not verbal in nature, and which manifest themselves in a wide variety of contexts. Studies involving nonverbal communication elements such as facial expression, eye contact, vocal cues, gestures, body movements, spatial behavior, touch, time, and other aspects are emphasized.
Be sure to visit our Facebook page often: 
- 2014 Business Meeting minutes
- Group By-Laws (pending)
IG Contacts
Chair: Nicole Blau, Ohio University
Secretary: Andrew Nicholson, SUNY Oswego
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2015/ends Thursday 2017): Zac D. Johnson; Murray State University
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2017/ends Thursday 2017): Jordan Atkinson, West Virginia University
2018 Planner: Nicole Blau, Ohio University
Recent News
Organizational Communication
Mission Statement
The purpose of the Organizational Communication Interest Group (OCIG) is to promote the study and teaching of organizational communication. Organizational communication focuses on research topics including, but not limited to, both personal relationships and relationships in the workplace, and explores communication, relationships, and cultures within the work environment, friendships, and small group communication. The OCIG welcomes both theoretical and applied scholarship.
IG Contacts
Chair: Joe Lybarger University of Tennessee
Chair 2020: Michael Sollitto, University of Texas A & M
Secretary: Scott Myers, West Virginia University
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2017/ends Thursday 2019): Joe Lybarger, University of Tennessee
2019 Planner: Joe Lybarger University of Tennessee
Recent News
Philosophy of Communication
Mission Statement
The Philosophy of Communication Interest Group supports scholarship that examines the philosophical presuppositions and implications of communicative praxis. This interest group provides an academic home for ethical, interpretive, qualitative, historical, and dialogic approaches to the study and application of communication.
IG Contacts
Chair: Susan Mancino, St. Mary's College
Chair 2020: Susan Mancino, Duquesne University
Secretary: Susan Mancino, Duquesne University
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2017/ends Thursday 2019): Amanda McKendree, University of Notre Dame
2019 Planner: Susan Mancino, St. Mary's College
Recent News
Political Communication
Mission Statement
Pending.
IG Contacts
Chair: David LeVasseur, West Chester University
Secretary: Sean Luechtefeld, Johns Hopkins University
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2017/ends Thursday 2019): Rodney Carveth, Morgan State University
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2019/ends Thursday 2021): Kristin English, Georgia College & State University
2019 Planner: David LeVasseur, West Chester University
Recent News
Rhetoric and Public Address
2018 Rhetoric and Public Address Minutes Mission Statement
(DRAFT) The Rhetoric & Public Address Interest Group conceives its mission as the scholarly study of rhetorical artifacts, modes, theories, and practitioners from a host of cultures and traditions, and their profound implications for public life in local, national, and transnational contexts. We celebrate a rich tradition of studying classic speeches and speakers, while also encompassing an expanded view of the nature of rhetorical inquiry into visual, material, and performative media and the recovery of often historically marginalized voices and movements. Through a diversity of lenses, R&PA Interest Group members examine particularly the tensions between “text” and “context” as they touch upon perennially important debates around history, power, ideology, ethics, and social change.
IG Contacts
Chair: Jason Edwards, Bridgewater State University
Chair 2020: Valerie Schrader, Penn State Schuylkill
Secretary: Abbe Depretis, Temple University
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2017/ends Thursday 2019): Abbe Depretis, Temple University
2019 Planner: Jason Edwards, Bridgewater State University
Recent News
Theory and Methodology
Mission Statement
- To promote ideas of discovery and creativity in all areas of communication research. Thus, Theory & Methodology is an umbrella to all other interest groups;
- To encourage the development of new methodologies to foster scholarship at all levels of research interest including the beginning researcher; and
- To insure that a wide range of research be discussed in all areas of communication.
IG Contacts
Chair: Richard West, Emerson University
Chair 2020: Janie Harden Fritz, Duquesne University
Secretary: Matthew Mancino, Duquesne University
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2017/ends Thursday 2019): Janie Harden Fritz, Duquesne University
2019 Planner: Richard West, Emerson University
Recent News
Voices of Diversity
Mission Statement
The purpose of the interest group is to explore the various theories and practices that pertain to the research, teaching, and study of communication within, between, and among diverse communities, especially as these communities are affected and/or marginalized culturally, economically, institutionally, politically, psychologically, and socially because of age, class, disabilities, ethnicity, gender, language, race, religion or sexual orientation. The Voices of Diversity Interest Group seeks to facilitate dissemination and discussion of such theories and practices within the field of communication studies."
IG Contacts
Chair: Christine Hirsch, SUNY-Oswego
Secretary:
EC Rep (term begins Sunday 2017/ends Thursday 2019): Dan Strasser, Rowan University
2019 Planner: Christine Hirsch, SUNY-Oswego
