When I received the email message letting me know the ICA election results for the Presidency, I talked to some former Presidents about their terms and how work was accomplished. They noted that ICA Presidents and Boards make different marks on our association--some start initiatives that carry over for several years; others have projects that blend seamlessly into standard operating procedures; and still others take on the charges of prior Presidents. There is no right way to do a Presidency and there often are exigencies that shift priorities.

Going into the Presidency, I had stated that I wanted to "build on my prior work for ICA to enhance our field's visibility, internationalization, and collaborative exchanges for information sharing and career development." Despite this statement and its elaborations, I had not fully expected that I would focus outward moreso than inward. I did realize, however, that it would be a collaborative effort and I, as the Presidents before me, have been blessed with a remarkable Executive Council, Board, Executive Director and staff, and association membership, who have responded enthusiastically to every call for service. So this is more of a report of many researchers' and staff members' undertakings than of my own.

With regard to visibility, we have been working actively to enhance our field's reputation through journal acceptance into, and cross-references to, ISI listings. This work is a long-term project under the auspices of the Council of Communication Associations with reports by committee members at our ICA conferences. Another project that is designed to increase our field's visibility is the construction of a funding database. Through the generosity of Kyle Brown of Innolyst, a company that recently compiled the funding of all 15,000 members of the American Cancer Society, we are submitting information to conduct a trail run of this process. We have not provided our ICA membership list but are using information volunteered by members in the past and publicized in different association newsletters. Our hope is that, over time, a fairly complete database can provide the evidence needed to argue for prominence of our field in funded research, for a NSF directorate in communication, for records of international grants and collaborations, and other uses.

Over this past year, we have contracted with Hampton Press to publicize conference attendees' contributions to our theme panels more widely through the second book in our Theme Sessions series. It will be displayed at our conference in a few weeks and truly represents the our members' energy and commitment to social change. We also are sponsoring a panel on distinctive qualities in regional communication research with the pursuit of books that foregrounds members' work in national, regional, and global initiatives that cut across our field's different contexts but are situated firmly in particular locales around the globe. This is the second year for a panel on regional overviews of communication research and some of the highlights from last year's miniplenary session have been printed in issues of our ICA Newsletter. Over the year, there have been conversations about translating these books and perhaps one or more of our ICA Handbooks into other languages. Those discussions will continue.

Other work designed to increase our field's visibility includes ICA contributions to a recently formed interassociational committee for quality indicators for humanities in cooperation with ECREA and IMCR (and sponsored by INIST, the Institute for Scientific and Technical Information; and the Institute for Communication Science of CNRS, the National Center for Scientific Research, a government-funded research organization under the administrative authority of France’s Ministry of Research). This survey is designed to obtain data on quality characteristics and journals. Preliminary data from this survey report is being presented in May by Francois Heinderyckx of ECREA and his colleagues.  The data will supplement discussions of quality indicators for the humanities for ISI.

As final notes about visibility initiatives, we are hoping to podcast our Chicago plenary and miniplenary sessions for the first time. We are still awaiting National Research Council (NRC) reports and data release on doctoral programs—but have participated in field initiatives to interpret, frame, and extend this work to benefit all.

With regard to the second issue, internationalization, our membership fluctuates over the course of the year but we have had representation from 85 different countries in 2008 to present and strive to further internationalize not only our divisions, committees, and publication processes but also our routine procedures and language. Throughout the year, it has been a true honor to represent ICA at a number of regional conferences and to have participated in cosponsorship of, and welcoming addresses at, different conferences. This is not solely the work of a President but involves many of our members.

We look forward to building and maintaining further links over the next several months with participation in the National Communication Association's upcoming conference in Istanbul, the ICA cosponsored conference in Melbourne, an "eSociety" cosponsored conference scheduled for late October in Shanghai, and many other efforts to connect with communication scholarship and initiatives globally. We also anticipate having ICA representation at an upcoming international tropical medicine conference as their members look toward interdisciplinary connections for more effective educational and preventative health campaigns. Our website listing of regional conferences and our World Map of research associations continues to grow.

The third and final initiative involves work on collaborative exchange formats for information sharing and career development. This work is still underway and is an area that I look forward to continuing over the next few years. Although some members use our ICA social networking capabilities, they more often use broader based services such as LinkedIn or regular e-mail. It has been eye-opening for me to correspond with individuals who have done outstanding work for our association (and other associations) but who have never considered the possibility of running for President-Elect Select or other officer positions and who have never had conversations with ICA members about their eligibility for certain awards and distinctions. Like them, I would not have considered some roles I’ve taken in my career unless someone asked or mentioned them. It has truly been a pleasure to find oneself in those serendipitous moments where a conversation of this sort is initiated. I hope to have many more of these conversations in the future and encourage our members to initiate these contacts.

Although I’ve talked about communicating about association positions and awards, career development begins with our students. In conjunction with our Student Board members, I hope to gather data about mentoring interests and formats to pursue career development processes and programs that make sense for our newest members and that can be accessible in different formats.

As this is my final newsletter column as President, I wish to extend my thanks to our past Presidents on the Executive Committee--Sonia Livingstone (immediate Past President), Ron Rice (Past President), Jon Nussbaum (Finance Chair)--and our future Presidents--Barbie Zelizer and Francois Cooren, as incoming President and President-Elect Select, respectively. Our final EC member is our Executive Director, Michael L. Haley. Our EC’s wisdom, good cheer, and commitment have made so many tasks this past year enjoyable.

Let me also thank our ICA Board of Directors. Our Board includes our EC, plus many others. Our Board includes:

• Board Members at Large (Yu-li Liu, Gianpietro Mazzoleni, Elena E. Pernia, Juliet P. Roper, and Aldo Vasquez Rios)
• Student Board Members (Michele Cheng Hoon Khoo and Mikaela L. Marlow)
• Division Chairs (S. Shyam Sundar, Communication & Technology; Stephen D. McDowell, Communication Law & Policy; Kumarini Silva, Ethnicity & Race in Communication; Vicki Mayer, Feminist Scholarship; Oliver Boyd-Barrett, Global Communication/Social Change; David B. Buller, Health Communication; Paul David Bolls, Information Systems; Kristen Harrison, Instructional/Developmental; James W. Neuliep, Intercultural Communication; Pamela J. Kalbfleisch, Interpersonal Communication; Maria Elizabeth Grabe, Journalism Studies; Mark Aakhus, Language & Social Interaction; Robin Nabi, Mass Communication; Dennis K. Mumby, Organizational Communication; Ingrid Volkmer, Philosophy of Communication; Kevin G. Barnhurst, Political Communication; Cornel Sandvoss, Popular Communication; Craig E. Carroll, Public Relations; and Marion G. Mueller, Visual Communication Studies)
• Interest Group Chairs (Patti M. Valkenburg, Children, Adolescents, and the Media; David W. Park, Communication History; John L. Sherry, Game Studies; Lynn A. Comella, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Interest Group Cochair; David J. Phillips, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Interest Group Cochair; Margaret J. Pitts, Intergroup Communication)

I also want to thank our committee and task force members.

In addition to our EC (noted above), our other Standing Committees consist of the Membership, Finance, Publications, Nominating, Internationalization, Student Affairs, and Liaison Committees:

• Membership Committee (Jennifer L. Bartlett, Committee Chair; Michael L. Haley; Gianpietro Mazzoleni; Hiroshi Ota; Diana I. Rios)
• Finance Committee (Jon F. Nussbaum, Finance Chair; Sonia Livingstone; Ronald E. Rice)
• Publications Committee (Krishnamurthy Sriramesh, Committee Chair; Dale Hample; Ingrid Volkmer)
• Nominating Committee (John Nguyet Erni, Committee Chair; Jennifer L. Bartlett; Jose Marques De Melo; Claes H. De Vreese; Linda C. Steiner)
• Internationalization Committee (James A. Anderson; Wim J. L. Elving; Michele Cheng Hoon Khoo; Yu-li Liu; Elena E. Pernia; Aldo Vasquez Rios)
• Student Affairs Committee (Michele Cheng Hoon Khoo and Mikaela L. Marlow, Committee Co-Chairs; Kathleen Custers; Benjamin De Cleen; Rebecca L. Dohrman; Rabindra A. Ratan; Qian Xu)
• Liaison Committee (Ingrid Volkmer, Committee Chair; Noshir S. Contractor; Michael L. Haley; Eszter Hargittai; Monroe E. Price; Arvind Singhal; Douglas Storey)

• B. Aubrey Fisher Mentorship Award (Sandi Smith, Committee Chair; Elizabeth Bird; Gianpietro Mazzoleni; K. Viswanath; Shuhua Zhou)
• Steve Chaffee Career Productivity Award (Cindy Gallois, Committee Chair; Peng Hwa Ang; Joseph M. Chan; Sonja K. Foss; Marshall Scott Poole)
• James W. Carey Urban Award (Lana F. Rakow, Committee Chair; Harvey Jassem; Leo W. Jeffres; Casey Lum; Paschal Preston; Yong Jun Shin)
• ICA Fellows Book Award (Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, Committee Chair; Sandra J. Ball-Rokeach; Jennings Bryant; Rod Hart; Barbara J. Wilson)
• Outstanding Book Award (Clifford Nass, Committee Chair; Linda Aldoory; Philip Howard; Irina Rozina; Ted Zorn)
• Applied/Public Policy Research Award (Dale Kunkel, Committee Chair; Phyllis Bernt; Anne Marie Bulow; Cees J. Hamelink; Pearl Wang)
• Outstanding Article Award (Cynthia Stohl, Committee Chair; Carolyn M. Byerly; Daniela V. Dimitrova; Hiroshi Ota; Jan Van den Bulck)
• Young Scholar Award (Claes H. De Vreese, Committee Chair; Travis L. Dixon; Laura K. Guerrero; Hee Sun Park; Karen Ross)
• Communication Research as Collaborative Practice Award (Donal Carbaugh, Committee Chair; Ingrid Volkmer; Bella Mody; Joe Karaganis; Yoo Jae Song)
• Communication Research as an Open Field Award (Sandra Braman, Committee Chair; Barry Wellman; Wenshan Jia; Rivka Ribak; Catrin Johansson)
• Communication Research as Agent of Change Award (Margaret Peters, Committee Chair; Arvind Singhal; Ed Maibach; Myria Georgiou; Ling Chen)

We had a few Task Forces in operation this year. Some carried over work that Sonia Livingstone initiated; one focused on a visibility initiative I had; and others looked to Barbie Zelizer’s presidential agenda. These Task Forces included:

• Grants/Funding Database Task Force (Noshir Contractor, Marshall Scott Poole, Patrice Buzzanell)
• Task Force on Media and Communication Policy (Bruce A. Williams, Committee Chair; Georgina E. M. Born; Susan J. Douglas; Arne Hintz; Hak-Soo Kim; Shih-Hung Lo; Monroe E. Price; Amit Schejter; Sharon Strover)
• ICA Fund Raising Task Force (Stewart M. Hoover, Committee Chair; Jennings Bryant; Ellen Wartella; John M. Wiemann)
• Task Force on the Greening of ICA (Toby Miller, Committee Chair; Justin Lewis; Sam Luna; Chad Raphael; Juliet P. Roper)
• Multiple Language Submission Task Force (Thomas Hanitzsch, Committee Chair; Marwan Kraidy; Yu-li Liu; Philippe Maarek; Gianpietro Mazzoleni; Federico Subervi)

Our ICA Executive Director and staff deserve my own and the entire association’s gratitude for their hard work and their ability to make everything they do look so effortless. I thank Michael Haley,who knows every bylaw, every precident, and everything that has happened in ICA since his arrival in his position several years ago. I also thank a peerless team of talented individuals: Sam Luna (Member Services Director), Deandra Harris (Member Services Associate and Office Manager), Tina Zeigler (Executive Assistant and Accounts Payable & Receivable), and Mike West (Publications Manager). Presidents may come and go but these five people keep ICA running.

And most of all, I thank our members for always challenging ICA leadership to do better, to think more creatively, and to consider new ways to serve our association and our field.