ICA's Board of Directors approved, at their meeting at the San Francisco conference, a new interest group in Communication History that will be chaired by David Park (Lake Forest College). In addition, the Board approved the separation of the Intercultural and Development Communication division into two separate divisions: The first will retain the name of Intercultural Communication (dropping "Development"), while the newly independent division will be called Global Communication and Social Change. Jim Neuliep (St. Norbert College) will chair Intercultural while Oliver Boyd-Barrett takes the helm of the Global Communication and Social Change division.
The Board also approved the appointment of two new journal editors-Michael Cody (U of Southern California) has been selected as the next editor for Journal of Communication, with his term beginning in 2009. For Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, the new editor will be Kevin Wright (Oklahoma U) who will also take over in 2009. They also elected Cindy Gallois, (U of Queensland) as the newest ICA fellow.
Rajiv N. Rimal, chair of the ICA Nominating Committee, presented the Board with the 2007 candidate slate for approval. The slate includes: President-Elect/Select - Teri Thompson (U of Dayton), Barbie Zelizer (U of Pennsylvania); Board Member at Large (Americas) - Aldo Vasquez Rios (U de San Martín de Porres), Jesus Arroyave (U del Norte); Student Board Member - Diana Iulia Nastasia (U of North Dakota), Michele Khoo (Nanyang Technological U). The 2007 online election will be held from approximately September 5 until mid-October.
Finally, the Board created a new investment policy for the association. The policy that has been in place for nearly a decade was updated to reflect the association's better financial status and to align the policy with current thinking and practices. The new policy will be added by the end of the summer to the ICA Policies and Procedures Manual (which can be accessed on the ICA website). For further information about the May 24, 2007 Board of Directors meeting in San Francisco, contact Michael Haley, ICA's Executive Director, at mhaley@icahdq.org.
