As announced in the previous issue of the ICA Newsletter, this article outlines the main tasks of the organization's Student Affairs Committee for the year to come. The members of the committee would like to hear from student members of ICA in what concerns this plan of action, which was established with them in mind.
These tasks were established after e-mail conversations with several former ICA Student Board Members as well as with several senior ICA officers and administrators. Many thanks to Alison Bryant, Tema Milstein, and Rebecca Hains for their input, and to Francois Cooren, Michael Haley, and Sam Luna for their guidance.
These tasks have been conceived as strategies to be pursued by the ICA Student Affairs Committee to enhance participation from students in general, and from outside the US in particular. As Francois, the current President of the organization, specified in an e-mail, "We need to find ways to respond to students' agendas...it is crucial for an association like ICA to be attractive to graduate students, to the extent that by attending ICA conferences from the beginning of their research career, they will certainly opt for this association as their intellectual 'home' in the future when they become professors and researchers."
As such, the most important tasks of the ICA Student Affairs Committee for 2010-2011 are the following:
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To better understand the needs of student members of ICA. For this purpose, a student survey was administered and will be analyzed, and discussions with student members will be ongoing.
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To offer advice to student members of ICA about an array of topics of interest to them, through the monthly newsletter article and specific events at the annual conference. Topics identified by committee members so far include how to choose thesis/dissertation topics, how to present research, how to prepare for publication, and how to prepare for teaching.
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To provide avenues for student members of ICA and emerging scholars affiliated with ICA to learn about presentation, publication, funding, and employment opportunities in communication studies around the world. Such avenues would include the newsletter articles, pages on social networks, and perhaps a listserv.
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To ensure mentorship for student members of ICA by better connecting such students with senior scholars. Among the ideas brainstormed to date have been master classes during which ICA students learn directly from established scholars at the annual conferences, and meetings of journal editors with students at conferences.
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To increase the number of student members of ICA from underrepresented countries. To accomplish this task, contacts will be made with universities and communication departments from around the world, and ICA student and faculty members will be encouraged to promote ICA in various settings where they live and travel.
If you have any further ideas about what should be included on the ICA Student Affairs Committee, or about any of the particular components of the agenda, please email student representative Diana Nastasia at dinastasia@yahoo.co.uk. We would love to hear your thoughts!
