Upcoming Conference Highlights: Master Classes

by Cynthia Stohl, U of California - Santa Barbara

Curran	Deetz	McLeod	Knapp	Lee	Lemish

Only 3 months remain until we meet in Phoenix. If you haven't already registered or booked travel/hotel, it is time to do so! With nearly 500 sessions scheduled (496 to be exact), Phoenix promises to be one of the most exciting ICA conferences ever; a true celebration of our rich and vibrant scholarly community. In the January/February Newsletter, I presented details regarding the plenary and miniplenary sessions as well as the preconferences and extended sessions. Now, I would like to turn our focus to a series of Master Classes offered on Saturday and Sunday evening between 6:00-7:30 PM. The Master Classes, first offered last year in Boston, are the direct result of discussions with students at the 2010 Singapore conference. Many junior scholars indicated that they would like the opportunity to meet and hear from the most eminent scholars whose works have strongly influenced them.

Last year's Master Classes were a great success. Five senior scholars and about 200 conference attendees participated in conversation and exchange. Continuing this "new tradition," six master classes are scheduled for Phoenix. I sought input from all ICA graduate student members as well as division chairs regarding who they would like to lead such a class. I am pleased to announce that our line-up of masters is extraordinary. They represent a broad range of scholarship and include some of the most respected scholars in our discipline.

Saturday May 26

• Professor James Curran (Director of the Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre, U of London): From Misunderstanding the Internet to Reinterpreting the Rise of Entertainment.
• Professor Stan Deetz (Director, Center for the Study of Conflict, Collaboration and Creative Governance, U of Colorado, Boulder): Communication, Democracy, and the Governance Challenge.
• Professor Jack McLeod (Professor Emeritus School of Journalism & Mass Communication, U of Wisconsin, Madison): Media and Citizenship: Searching for "Fairness and Balance" in Times of Increasing Inequality.

Sunday May 27

• Professor Mark Knapp (Professor Emeritus, U of Texas, Austin): Doing it Interpersonally.
• Professor Chin Chuan Lee (Chair Professor and Head, Department of Media and Communication, City U of Hong Kong): On Being an International Scholar.
• Professor Dafna Lemish (Chair Department of Radio-TV College of Mass Communication & Media Arts, Southern Illinois U, Carbondale): Creating a Shared Arena: When Feminist Scholarship Meets Children and Media.

I would like to thank these scholars for their willingness to participate in this exciting program. Each one promises to be a great event. I look forward to seeing you at the Master Classes and all the other special events we have scheduled for Phoenix.

To learn more about Chin-Chuan Lee and Dafna Lemish's respective master classes, read the special feature in this issue of Newsletter.