MINUTES
Western States Communication Association
Environmental Communication Interest Group
2017 Business Meeting- February 19, 2017
Salt Lake City, UT
Officers:
Immediate Past Chair: Maria Blevins
Chair: Kathleen Hunt
Chair Elect: Brenden Kendall
Secretary: Joshua Trey Barnett
I. Welcome. Chair Kathleen Hunt began the meeting at
II. Approval of Minutes from 2016 Business Meeting in San Diego, CA. The minutes were approved unanimously. Elizabeth Brunner made the motion; Tarla Rai Peterson seconded; the membership voted to approve.
III. Officer Reports
A. Chair - Katie Hunt
1. Submissions, Acceptances, and Program Slots – Katie noted that we had two co-sponsored programs this year, one with the Communication and Instruction Division and the other with the Performance Studies Division.
2. Special Thanks – Katie thanked the volunteers who reviewed papers, especially those who did last-minute reviews. She also thanked Joshua Barnett for planning the interest group social this year.
3. Legislative Assembly – Katie noted that Legislative Assembly will take place on Monday, February 20, from 7-9 p.m. She invited interested members to talk with her about attending.
4. Website and Archive – Katie noted that she has been working on the website. The website currently includes an archive of past officers, a list of awards and award winners, top paper presentations, the interest group by-laws, minutes from each year, and photos from interest group events. Katie said she hopes that this website will be continued by future officers. The interest group website has an administrative hub where review letters and other documents can be saved. We can also post things through the westcomm.org website, where members can create user profiles.
B. Vice Chair - Brenden Kendall [Note: Brenden was not present at the meeting and Katie had been unable to reach him. In his place, Katie made the report.]
1. Planners Meeting – Katie noted that there had been a planners meeting on Sunday, February 19, from 8-9 a.m. She reported that the next site will be Santa Clara, California. The conference hotel is near a football stadium, and there is light rail which goes to the airport. The dates are February 15-19, 2018, which signals a departure from years past since these dates span Thursday through Monday.
2. WSCA 2018 Location and Theme – The theme for next year’s convention will be Mindfulness and Communication. We could think of mindfulness as attentiveness, judgment, attunement, the body, being present, et cetera.. You could also think about the mindfulness movement, the Buddhist roots of the practice, co-optation, racist/classist implications. The call for papers will be posted by March 2017 and the deadline will be first of September.
3. Submissions – Katie reported that program planners would appreciate the use of consistent names (use just one name) in all correspondence and on each submission. Second, she asked that presented please include full contact information in their submissions to the division in the future; we don’t need the physical address anymore, but email and phone are needed. The CFP will be amended to include these details. Send a cover sheet, and be sure to prep your file for blind review. Be very specific with your AV needs; if you possibly need something, ask for it. If planning a panel, see if perhaps more than one person needs the AV equipment. Mark papers as appropriate: student and/or debut.
4. Distribution of Reviewer/Respondent Sign-up Sheet. A sign-up sheet was passed around the room. At the end of the meeting it was delivered to chair-elect Brian Cozen.
C. Secretary - Joshua Trey Barnett
1. There was nothing to report.
IV. Elections
A. Nominations and Election of Chair Elect – Betsy Brunner nominated Brian Cozen for chair, and Jen Schneider nominated Brunner for chair-elect. Tarla moved to approve these nominations by acclimation. Katie informed Betsy and Brian that they would need to attend the 2017 Legislative Assembly.
B. Nominations and Election of Secretary – Betsy Brunner nominated Marek Muller, who was elected by acclimation.
V. Awards
Katie Hunt announced the following awards:
-- Ashleigh M. Day, Top Debut Paper, “Performance, Possums, Political Photo-Ops, Too”
-- Joshua Trey Barnett, Top Paper, “Atmospheric Rhetorics”
-- Kelsey Lahr, Top Paper, “The Voice of Warming”
-- Jen Schneider and Pete Bsumek, Top Paper, “The Influence Peddlers”
-- Betsy Brunner and Veronica Dawson, Top Paper, “Marketing the Sublime”
VI. Announcements and Open Discussion
1. 2018 Site Activities/Pre-Conference Brainstorm – Susanne Polin from the Performance Studies Division would like to put together a pre-conference. It would involve open spaces, movement, and perhaps animal allies ... she suggested thinking about older languages, sound, and music with non manmade nature. The pre-conference would be off-site in a park or other setting. Someone else mentioned that Redondo Beach or Manhattan Beach might offer a nice site for an event. At particular beaches you are very close to refineries, but also close to “nature.” It could be interesting to think about the juxtaposition. Emily Plec asked: Other than a pre-conference excursion/performance, any interest in work-shopping stuff? Maybe something service oriented? Jen Schneider mentioned the housing crisis in that area.
2. OPEN discussion: Maria Blevins suggested moving away from the chair/respondent model of panels and going more toward a facilitator model. Emily Plec likes this idea but also really likes the formal responses; she proposed that there be a formal motion at next year’s meeting at or prior to the convention. Someone suggested that the chair would function as a discussant, and that the individualized feedback would be shared with the authors but not with the panel attendees. A special issue of Rhetoric Society Quarterly on “Bestiary Rhetorics” edited by Jeremy Gordon, Saul Kutnicki, and Katie Lind is coming out in the fall. Stacy Sowards made an announcement about the Conference on Communication and the Environment, which is taking place in Liecestter, UK from June 29-July 3, 2017. Katie Hunt announced that our division membership is down by about 15 percent. Last year it was about 70, but was closer to 56 this year. This is something to watch.
3. Annual ECIG Social: Joshua Barnett announced that the annual social will be held at Beer Bar in downtown Salt Lake City from 7-9 p.m. on February 19 2017. All are welcome.
VII. Adjournment
Kathleen Hunt called the meeting to an end.