First Annual Undergraduate Scholars Conference 

ECA Convention 2011 – Washington, D.C. area/Arlington, Virginia
 April 13-17, 2011

I am excited to be chairing the first James C. McCroskey and Virginia P. Richmond Undergraduate Scholars Conference (USC) in conjunction with the Eastern Communication Association to be held in Arlington, Virginia, at the Key Bridge Marriott April 15th and 16th, 2011.

While the ECA conference begins on April 13 with the Basic Course Conference and runs until April 17, the USC is for two days only from April 15th at noon until April 16th at 6 pm.  The USC runs simultaneously at the conference hotel and has several rooms dedicated to USC papers and panels.  USC participants may attend any ECA programs and ECA attendees are encouraged to attend the USC programs.  

The traditional undergraduate poster session is still being run by Cary Horvath, but we have joined forces to make undergraduate submissions easier. Competitive papers (both for paper panels and posters) are asked to identify if they would like to present on a panel, as a poster, or both.

The USC will include competitive papers, posters, and video presentations. We hope to see the range of diversity that represents the field of communication in the papers, posters, and videos, so please encourage all of your undergraduate students to submit to the conference. The USC deadline is December 15th, 2010, which perfectly coincides with the end of the Fall 2010 semester/quarter. Why not include an ECA/USC assignment to your course syllabi this fall?
 
In addition to the presentations, conference attendees will attend a sponsored "mix and mingle" reception Friday to help them get to know other attendees and a USC Awards dinner Saturday where they will meet faculty and be exposed to graduate programs from around the country.  At this event, institutions which sponsor a table may bring promotional materials, a poster about their program to share with the USC attendees and share a meal with our undergraduate scholars.
 
Faculty members who are interested in reading and/or responding to submitted papers, panels, and videos, please contact USC Director Jason Wrench at ECAUSC@aol.com.   Institutions which want to sponsor a table at the USC Awards dinner, please contact Director of Marketing, Leeanne Bell at leeannebell@hotmail.com.

Jason