ICA Annual Conference
Conference Events
This division sponsors a number of activities at the conference that make it special. Here are just a few highlights of division events one would expect to find at the annual conference.
New Members Breakfast
This is one of the most important events we host. During our breakfast, we welcome newcomers to our division and provide information about who we are and how new members can become involved in our division. Despite the early hour of this breakfast, our returning and new members invariably show up to catch up on news and chat with members they haven’t met before. It is at this time that our students and junior faculty members often connect with senior researchers and peers who begin to function as mentors. The breakfast also presents an opportunity to act as hosts for our international members who may not know anyone in our division. It is at this time that all members can talk to officers and chairs of our different committees and provide feedback on where we’re headed as a division.
Preconferences
Our division sponsors roughly two kinds of preconferences. We host a highly successful doctoral preconference in which we discuss theory building, practical dissertation accomplishment ideas, and the role transitions that happen as our student members enter their tenure-track (or other post-Ph.D.) positions. Over the years, attendees have remarked about how beneficial this preconference has been. Not only have they learned from others’ successes and mistakes but they also have meet people who sometimes become friends and co-authors. Besides the doctoral preconference, we also host thematic preconferences. These day-long presentations and discussions focus on various topics. Being part of a relatively small group of scholars discussing issues about which they feel passionately has been an amazing experience for members who have participated in these sessions.
Division Reception
When Kathy Miller was editor of Management Communication Quarterly, she began the tradition of funding our division receptions. These receptions are programmed after our late afternoon business meetings so that conversations begun during business meetings can continue. Members often remark that our reception is a pleasant way to end a very busy day in our conference program.
Academic-Industry Task Force
Our commitment to theory and practice is never more evident than in our Academic-Industry Task Force work. Every year, this committee develops a highly interactive panel that focuses attention on the everyday concerns affecting our non-academic members and others in business, not-for-profit, and virtual organizations across the globe. In the past, we have featured communication consultants, Saturn team members and managers, AT&T human resource professionals, and many more. In the past, our task force has provided non-academic respondents to panels and has created partnerships between researchers and industry contacts for research and consulting.
Awards
We believe in honoring different kinds of scholarship. We offer dissertation, outstanding member, top paper, and top student paper awards. One of the most prestigious is the W. Charles Redding Dissertation Award, originally presented in 1979 on the occasion of Charles Redding’s “first” retirement from Purdue University. This award recognizes the most outstanding dissertation(s) in our area for a given year. The dissertation award winners (and advisors) receive certificates as well as monetary awards in honor of their achievements. These funds are generated through an endowment begun by Fred Jablin, as one of his projects during the time he was division chair. Besides the W. Charles Redding Dissertation Award, the Fredric M. Jablin Outstanding Member Award typically is also presented annually. A committee composed of the two immediate past chairs of our division reviews our membership and selects a person(s) who deserves recognition for having served our division and field in an exemplary manner. Other awards are given for top papers, and top student papers. The top 3-4 papers are presented on a special panel highlighting this outstanding scholarship.
Above, you will find links to information on the upcoming and past conference information for the Organizational Communication Division.
(Edited from content in the April 2001 Division Newsletter, author unknown)