Introduction
Teaching and Service Awards
Top Paper Awards
Nominations
Minutes
On-Line Survey
Division Officers
Spotlight On . . . Ellen Wartella
 

Introduction
 

This is the first issue of GATEKEEPER in the year 2000! For those who are not familiar with GATEKEEPER, it is the e-mail newsletter of the Mass Communication Division of the National Communication Association and contains information on topics covered in the traditional hard-copy newsletter (which you should have already received), as well as new information.

Teaching and Service Awards
 

NCA's Mass Communication Division invites nominations for teaching and service awards. The MCD Teaching Award is designed to recognize excellence in teaching, using the term "teacher" in a broad sense. In order to be considered, the nominee must be a member of NCA and MCD, have taught for over ten years, and have been recognized for their teaching excellence by their department, unit, college/university, or other group or association. This includes, but is not limited to, awards, merit evaluations, student recognition, etc. Self-nomination is encouraged in addition to nominations by others. The nomination packet may not exceed 25 pages and should include:

1. a single, detailed letter of nomination addressing the qualifications of the nominee;

2. the teacher's curriculum vitae;

3. three letters of recommendation; and

4. representative publications or presentations dealing with teaching and/or curriculum, course outlines/syllabuses, innovative teaching ideas or tools, teaching evaluations and citations, evidence of mentoring and/or advising, or other forms of recognition pertaining to the nominee.

The MCD Service Award is designed to recognize exemplary service in the field. In order to be considered, the nominee must be a member of NCA and MCD, have served the NCA and MCD in a number of capacities, and have evidence of exemplary service to several of the following: NCA, MCD, the profession, the community, the department, the college or university. The nomination packet may not exceed 25 pages and should include:

1. a single detailed letter of nomination addressing the qualifications of the nominee;

2. a curriculum vitae;

3. three letters of recommendation; and

4. evidence of service.

Send five copies of the packet for either award to Shing-Ling S. Chen, 257 CAC, Department of Communication Studies, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0357. Phone: (319) 273-6021; e-mail: chens@cobra.uni.edu. Faxed or electronic submissions will not be accepted.

Nominations should be received by May 15, 2000. Over the summer, an award committee will discuss the nominations. The award committee will consist of the immediate past chair, chair, vice-chair, vice-chair elect, and secretary of the MCD. The final decision will be made by August 15. The award recipient will be contacted and asked to attend the fall meeting of the NCA MCD business meeting to receive the award. The MCD reserves the right to not give any awards.

Top Paper Award
 

The division recognized three top papers and one top student paper at the 1999 NCA Convention.

Top Papers

1. "How Others Are Affected by the Internet: The Role of Reference Group Size in the Third-Person Effect," by David Tewksbury, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

2. "Race and the Misrepresentation of Victimization on Local Television News," by Travis L. Dixon, University of Michigan, and Daniel G. Linz, University of California, Santa Barbara.

3. "Television's World of Work in the Nineties," by Nancy Signorielli, University of Delaware, and Susan Kahlenberg, Muhlenberg College.

Top Student Paper

"Faithful or Foolish: The Emergence of the 'Ironic Cover Album' and Rock Culture," by Steven Bailey, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Nominations
 

It is never too soon to begin thinking about serving the division. If anyone has suggestions about potential officers to lead the NCA Mass Communication Division, please share them with Alan Rubin or other members of the Nominating Committee. Self and other nominations are welcome.

Business Meeting November 1999
 

Haefner (Chair) Presiding.

• I.Call to Order and Distribution of Agenda

   

• II. Margaret Haefner (Illinois State U) called the meeting to order promptly at 5:00 p.m.. Introduction of Mass Communication Division Officers. Haefner introduced Mass Communication Division (MCD) officers and thanked them for their contributions to the division.

   

• III.Minutes of the 1998 Business Meeting

   

  • Secretary Don Taylor (California State U-Sacramento) distributed minutes of the 1998 meeting. The minutes were approved with one correction.

     

   

• IV. Reports and Announcements from Committee Officers

   

  • A. Betsy Perse, Nominating Committee Chair, presented the meeting with a slate of officers nominated by the committee. She invited all division members to add nominations from the floor for each of the positions to be elected. Election of new officers commenced, and continued throughout the meeting. The following individuals were elected:

    1. Vice-Chair Elect: Shing-Ling Chen (U of Northern Iowa)

    2. Research Committee Member: Mehdi Semati (Michigan Technological U)

    3. Secretary Elect: Mary Step (Case Western Reserve U)

    4. Web Wizard: Jeff Shires (Campbellsville U)

    5. Publications Committee: Kent Ono (U of California-Davis)

    6. Nominating Committee:

       Chair: Alan Rubin (Kent State U)

       Members: Barbara Kaye (Valdosta State U) Norman Medoff (Northern Arizona U) Michael Porter (U of Missouri) Leah Vande Berg (California State U-Sacramento) Graduate Student Representative: Kimberly Moffitt (Howard U)

        

     

  • B. Vice-Chair Rebecca Ann Lind (U of Illinois, Chicago) reported on the 1999 conference. She stated that all of the paper sessions and panels that were proposed were programmed, and that they were of very high quality. In all, the MCD had 19 sessions, including 11 competitive paper sessions, 6 panels, one off-site session at University of Illinois, Chicago, and the MCD Business Meeting & Newcomers' Reception. Mary Beth Oliver distributed the Research Chair report. She thanked the large group of paper readers for their hard work, and noted that each paper received reviews from three readers. The division received 53 paper submissions, and 40 were accepted.

     

  • C. Research Chair Mary Beth Oliver (Penn State U) presented certificates to the Top Three Papers and the Top Student Paper in the MCD. The recipients were:

    1. "How Others Are Affected by the Internet: The Role of Reference Group Size in the Third-Person Effect," by David Tewksbury, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

    2. "Race and the Misrepresentation of Victimization on Local Television News," by Travis L. Dixon, University of Michigan, and Daniel G. Linz, University of California, Santa Barbara.

    3. "Television's World of Work in the Nineties," by Nancy Signorielli, University of Delaware, and Susan Kahlenberg, Muhlenberg College.

     

    Top Student paper: "Faithful or Foolish: The Emergence of the `Ironic Cover Album' and Rock Culture," by Steven Bailey, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

     

  • D. Chair Margaret Haefner reported on the 1999 Legislative Council:

     

    1. NCA spent one million dollars to purchase and renovate the new NCA building in Washington DC. The building in Annandale, VA will be sold.

    2. NCA will not be raising dues this year. The Finance Board is looking for creative ways to fund the organization, and is considering some possibilities.

    3. The Legislative Council approved a new electronic journal, The Communication Review. The journal will publish book reviews. All aspects of the journal, including submissions and comments from reviewers, will be conducted online. The process of setting up and evaluating the journal will take place through the year 2003. Tom Benson (Penn State U) has been selected as editor.

    4. In January, a survey on extramural funding will be sent to all members of NCA. The survey is intended to identify who has extramural funding and from what sources. This information will help NCA members by informing them about which agencies and foundations are funding communication-related research.

    5. NCA endorsed a policy to employ contractors who are representative of the local population. This policy is intended to increase the diversity among the contractors with whom NCA does business.

     

  • V. Old Business

    • A. Margaret Haefner presented Karen Webster's Media Literacy Task Force report. She described the Communication Teacher Education Preparation Standards, a comprehensive set of standards for training K-12 communication teachers, including standards that communication teachers should meet for teaching media literacy. These standards were developed when the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) joined in partnership with over 40 states to standardize how collegiate teacher education programs are assessed. These standards are posted on the NCA website, and have been submitted to NCA for adoption as a tool for evaluating communication teacher education programs.

    • B. Web Wizard Jeff Shires (Campbellsville U) presented a report on the MCD website. He stated that the webpage he developed has been online since last June and has received about 100 hits. He wants to increase the number of links on the page, and asked that anyone who wants to link with the page to contact him. He has also set up a message board, but not many messages have been posted. The web address may change in December, 1999, but currently it is: http://cygnus.campbellsvil.edu/~shires/masscomm/

    • C. Rebecca Lind (U of Illinois, Chicago) was installed as the MCD Chair, 1999-2000. She thanked Margaret Haefner for her hard work and contributions to the division. Lind asked that people let her know what they want for the division, and suggested that they contact her at: rebecca@uic.edu. She then welcomed the other 1999-2000 officers:

      • Vice-Chair: Mary Beth Oliver (Penn State U)

      • Vice-Chair Elect: Shing-Ling Chen (U of Northern Iowa)

      • Immediate Past Chair: Margaret Haefner (Illinois State U)

      • Research Committee Chair: Shing-Ling Chen (U of Northern Iowa)

      • Secretary: Cynthia Hoffner (Illinois State U)

      • Secretary Elect: Mary Step (Case Western Reserve U)

      • Nominating Committee Chair: Alan Rubin (Kent State U)

      • Publications Committee: Kent Ono (U of California-Davis)

      • Web Wizard: Jeff Shires (Campbellsville U)

      • Graduate Student Representative: Kimberly Moffitt (Howard U)

       

    • D. Newly-installed Vice-Chair Mary Beth Oliver presented a report on the 2000 convention, to be held in Seattle, WA, November 8-12. The conference theme is "The Engaged Discipline." The conference will be held at the Seattle Convention Center, and space constraints will require a 10% reduction in the number of panels. The goal is to reduce the number of panels without reducing the number of presenters or attendees. This can be accomplished by using more poster sessions and high-density sessions. Oliver stated that for the 2000 convention, panels should be submitted to her, and papers should be submitted to Research Committee Chair Shing-Ling Chen. Chen encouraged division members to sign up to be paper readers for the 2000 conference. She also explained the benefits of high-density sessions, arguing that this format can be more stimulating than the typical format and gives audience members a greater opportunity to interact with presenters.

     

  • VI. New Business

    • A. Rebecca Lind spoke about the need to encourage people to nominate individuals for the teaching and service awards that were instituted last year in the MCD. She stated that the deadline for nominations is May 15, 2000, and that nominations should be sent to the Vice-Chair Elect, Shing-Ling Chen. She also noted that we need to post the criteria for these awards on the division web site.

    • B. Lind encouraged everyone to stay for the Newcomers' Reception, which immediately followed the Business Meeting, in the same room.

     

  Adjournment

  The meeting was adjourned at 6:10 p.m.

   

On-Line Survey
 

My name is Joyce Chen teaching at the University of Northern Iowa. I have posted a survey entitled "Digital Technology Survey" This survey examines the experiences and problems encountered by electronic media instructors as they adapt their teaching to the incorporation of digital technologies. It aims to provide technical and pedagogical information to electronic media faculty, educational administrators, and related industries. Your participation and support are greatly appreciated. Your answers will be kept completely confidential. All the data will be presented statistically. The report will be posted on the Internet in the middle of April, 2000 at http://www.uni.edu/~chen. Please feel free to share your experiences, suggestions, and expectations. If you have questions or suggestions, please call (319) 273-2574, or send a message to me. Thanks.

Joyce Chen, Ph.D.,
Department of Communication Studies,
University of Northern Iowa

Division Officers
February, 2000
 

Spotlight On . . . Ellen Wartella
 

Interview by Larry Mullen

Ellen Ann Wartella is Dean of the College of Communication and Walter Cronkite Regents Chair in Communication at The University of Texas at Austin. She received her Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota in 1977 and 1974 respectively.

Her B.A. (with honors) is from the University of Pittsburgh in 1971. At Pittsburgh she designed her major in communication and also majored in economics. She has had several influential mentors. They include her advisor Dan Wackman (who is still on the faculty at the University of Minnesota) and Andy Collins, who is a member of the Institute of Child Development at Minnesota. Jerry Kline (University of Michigan, University of Minnesota) was supportive early in her career, published her first article, and edited the series that published her first book.

Since that first book and article, Professor Wartella has continued to be a very active researcher. With nine books, 29 book chapters, 37 journal articles, 62 reports, panels, and testimony of various sorts, 67 conference papers, dozens of major speeches and lectureships, and several research fellowships, she is one of the most prolific and sought-after scholars in our field. Her work on children and advertising (How Children Learn to Buy, 1977, Sage) with Dan Wackman and Scott Ward, her Journal of Communication article in 1983 with Byron Reeves on the history of research on children and media, and the national TV violence studies from 1996 to 1998 are among her most significant past research works.

She is currently principal investigator on a review of research on children and interactive media which is funded by the Markle Foundation. The purpose of this research is "to identify what we do and don't know about how children of different ages use interactive media and its role in their cognitive, social, and physical development. Such a research review will be used to set a national research agenda, . . . inform children's media producers, and inform public policy in this area" (personal correspondence, 2000).

Professor Wartella teaches courses on children and advertising and TV violence research and media audiences. Students can expect lots of passion and lots of lecturing. In fact, she claims that she talks too much in the classroom, but I suspect that not a word is wasted. She provides lots of readings and solid bibliographic information for her students while demonstrating how to make good arguments about the material. In 1998 the Ad Society, Austin Advertising Federation, named her Educator of the Year.

Professor Wartella has served NCA in numerous ways including holding the chair of the mass communication division in 1985-86 and vice-chair from 1983-85. She was chair of the Research Board and sat on the Administrative Committee from 1993-96. Indeed her service extends into many quarters. She has become quite involved in Austin, mostly with media and children-related matters. For instance, she has been on the board of KLRU, Austin's public television station and she has been on the board of "Believe In Me," a children's dance group, and the Austin Children's Museum. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Children's Television Workshop, the producers of Sesame Street, and a member of the Board of the Center for Media Education, A Washington DC-based advocacy group.

Her most memorable story from her professional career comes from the first time she testified at the Federal Trade Commission Hearings on Children and Advertising in 1979. She says, "It was an incredible experience . . . I have testified at subsequent hearings including congressional sessions, but that FTC hearing in front of administrative judge Morton Needleman was more intense than any of the oral exams I took for my Ph.D."

When she isn't testifying, teaching, serving the community, or doing research, Ellen enjoys cooking with her husband, Chuck Whitney, and holding (now rare) dinner parties. She loves mystery books, but also reads histories and biographies for fun. She is especially fond of the mysteries by Dorothy Sayers and the two biographies by Judith Thurman (Isak Dinesen and the recent one on Colette). She also enjoys going to the movies when she can and is partial to "chick flicks" as her son calls them. She is hooked on TV shows like The Sopranos, Sports Night, and The West Wing. She loves TexMex and anything chocolate, especially if Chuck makes it. A friend of theirs once said that Chuck has an understanding with chocolate--he makes terrific desserts. Ellen and Chuck have two sons, David who will be 17 in March and Stephen who is 12. 

To read more about Ellen Wartella, see the chapter about her in Women in Communication: A Bibliographic Sourcebook, edited by Nancy Signorelli, 1996, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.