02/17/2007

2006 CSCA Community College Meeting Minutes

CENTRAL STATES COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATION

COMMUNITY COLLEGE INTEREST GROUP BUSINESS MEETING

APRIL 8, 2006

• Ron Howell called the meeting to order at 5:29 P.M.
• Attendees were welcomed and introduced.

The following members were in attendance:

Chair, Ron Howell Illinois Central College
Vice Chair, Barbara Handley-Miller Delta Community College
Secretary, David Bodary Sinclair Community College
Ann Marie Jablonowski, Owens Community College
Jacob Isaacs, Ivy Tech Community College- Lafayette
Brent Goken Illinois Central College
Marcia Moore Delta Community College
Ed Schwarz, Prairie State College
Roger Smitter National Communication Association
Jack Kay, CSCA First Vice President (Program Planner for 2007)

• The meeting opened with comments for Dr. Jack Kay, 1^st Vice President for the CSCA Convention slated for March 27 April 1^st 2007 to be held in Minneapolis, MN at the Downtown Hyatt Regency Hotel.
• The convention theme is Communication and Social Responsibility
• Dr. Kay encourages cooperative panels and mini-plenary programs. Additional information will appear through the CSCA web page and emails.

• The 2005 Minutes were reviewed and approved with a motion by Ron Howell and a second by Ann Marie Jablonowski. The motion passed by acclamation.

• The Chair elect position was opened for nominations. Brent Goken nominated Ann Marie Jablonowski, she accepted the nomination. Barb Handley-Miller quickly seconded the nomination. Ed Schwarz moved to close Chair-elect nominations, Marcia Moore seconded and nominations were closed by acclamation with no opposition. Next Ann Marie Jablonowski was elected by acclamation.

• Nominations for Secretary were opened. After an exceeding long silence David Bodary offered to continue in the role of secretary for another year. He encouraged new comers to view the secretary role as a great way to become involved in the organization in future years. David was elected by acclamation with no voiced opposition.

• Ron Howell turned the meeting over to Barb Handley-Miller for the discussion of program planning for the 2007 convention. Barb was quick to express her appreciation to Ron for his leadership and planning for the 2006 program which was well received by all in attendance.

2007 CSCA Community College Interest Group Program Planning

1. Roger Smitter was invited to offer comments and recommended that the community college interest group had a long history of focus on Access as a social responsibility issue for all students.
2. Barb suggested a session might be developed to address the open door policy of many colleges including consideration of the rights and responsibilities that such a policy includes. Ron brought up the point of economic realities (and limitations) that open door access policies involve. Roger recommended we consider a session on how our discipline addresses the social responsibility of teaching oral communication.
3. Barb offered the idea of information literacy and social responsibility as we instruct and empower students as future citizens to gather and interpret information through our courses. Ann Marie suggested combining the issues of information literacy and plagiarism. David, Marcia and Barb agreed to help in pulling together a panel proposal on this topic. It was suggested that Denise Elmer might also be interested in this topic.
4. Brent Goken suggested that an earlier CSCA panel on Integrating Civility in the classroom was well attended and quite informative. It was suggested that a variation of this topic might be interesting. Ron added that listener civility might be a possible angle to consider. Ann Marie indicated interest in the topic. It was agreed this topic might be something that could be co-sponsored with other groups including Basic Course or Communication Education.
5. The topic of Service Learning and Civic Engagement was offered.
6. The topic of Learning Needs vs. Learning Traditions was suggested. The idea was to offer something that could infuse more practical application in basic courses, like using job interview questions for impromptu speaking topics in public speaking course. David and Jacob expressed interest in developing a proposal on this topic.
7. Ron suggested the topic of retention for on-line learning. Ron, Ann Marie and Marcia indicated interest in proposing a panel on this topic.
8. David and Ed expressed interest in investigating why students fail to complete courses at community colleges. They will pursue the topic.
9. Marcia Moore recommended that a panel address the way in which COM courses address the political process including how congressional elections can be used as instructional aids in the basic course. This seems a good fit with the social responsibility theme.
10. Ed suggested that perhaps a session could be organized to demonstrate the role of social responsibility in a variety of COM courses and pedagogical strategies including Learning Communities, Service Learning, and Public speaking, Mass Comm., Political Com and Small Group Com. Barb, Brent, Jacob and Marcia indicated interest in pursuing this topic for a panel or session like GIFTS or Teachers' Idea Exchange and Support (TIES).

• The call for proposals will go out around the first of May and submissions will need to be finalized by early September.
• Barb reminded everyone of the importance of regular and thoughtful communication as program ideas are considered, improved and finalized.
• Marcia Moore reminded program chairs to be certain to communicate with panel participants once the program is set in order to avoid potential misunderstandings and possible no-shows.
• Ron motioned the meeting be adjourned at 6:14 P.M. Brent seconded the motion and all agreed by acclamation.