The National Communication Association is the largest national organization to promote communication scholarship and education. A non-profit organization that has over 8,000 educators, practitioners, and students who work and reside in every state and more than 20 countries. The NCA serves the scholars, teachers, and practitioners who are its members by enabling and supporting their professional interests in research and teaching. Dedicated to fostering and promoting free and ethical communication, the NCA promotes the widespread appreciation of the importance of communication in public and private life, the application of competent communication to improve the quality of human life and relationships, and the use of knowledge about communication to solve human problems.It also advances communication as the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific and aesthetic inquiry.

History

The National Communication Association was founded in 1914. NCA’s long and rich history encompasses shifts in the priorities and interests of communication scholars, researchers, and professionals. Various name changes reflect the association’s evolution over nearly 100 years. Changes to the name of the association have resulted in the following name changes of communication departments and programs at colleges and universities throughout the years:

• National Association of Academic Teachers of Public Speaking, 1914–1922
• National Association of Teachers of Speech, 1923–1945
• Speech Association of America, 1946–1969
• Speech Communication Association, 1970–1996
• National Communication Association, 1997–Present

Disciplinary activities

NCA strives to publicize the discipline's scholarship through press releases and regular contacts with policy makers. When appropriate, NCA offers scholarship to support the development of governmental policy. Where proposed laws are of interest or potential concern, the National Office staff notifies members so that they can make their opinions known to their representatives on Capitol Hill.

NCA's sponsors an annual convention, which is the leading outlet for the discipline's scholarship. NCA's summer conferences bring together scholars working in an emerging area of interest to exchange ideas. The annual convention consists of short courses, preconferences, seminars, G.I.F.T.S.(Great Ideas for Teaching Students), and scholar to scholar.

NCA publishes 10 academic journals: Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies,Communication Education, Communication Monographs,Communication Teacher, Critical Studies in Media Communication,Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, Journal of Applied Communication Research, Quarterly Journal of Speech,Review of Communication, and Text and Performance Quarterly.

NCA also publishes an online magazine, Communication Currents. The site is designed to translate current communication scholarship published in scholarly journals of the National Communication Association. Working from recently-published journal articles, Communication Currents makes scholarship available in a form understandable and usable for broad audiences, including communication experts working with lay audiences, instructors and students, the press, and other interested members of the public. Essays in Communication Currents highlight the relevance of communication scholarship; demonstrates the way in which communication impacts our world; and demonstrates the leadership of NCA in the study of communication.

Leadership

NCA Presidents from 1915 to present:

1915 J.M. O’Neill,* University of Wisconsin

1916 J.A. Winans,* Cornell University

1917 J.L. Lardner,* Northwestern University

1918 H.S. Woodward,* Western Reserve University

1919 H.S. Woodward,* Western Reserve University

1920 C.H. Woolbert,* University of Illinois

1921 A.M. Drummond,* Cornell University

1922 Glenn N. Merry,* University of Iowa

1923 Harry B. Gough,* Depauw University

1924 Wilber Jones Kay,* West Virginia University

1925 Ray K. Immel,* University of Southern California

1926 E.C. Mabie,* University of Iowa

1927 Andrew T. Weaver,* University of Wisconsin

1928 John P. Ryan,* Grinnell College

1929 F.M. Rarig,* University of Minnesota

1930 John Dolman,* Jr., University of Pennsylvania

1931 Clarence T. Simon,* Northwestern University

1932 Henrietta Prentiss,* Hunter College

1933 Lee Emerson Bassett,* Leland Stanford University

1934 H.L. Ewbank,* University of Wisconsin

1935 Arleigh B. Williamson,* New York University

1936 Maud May Babcock,* University of Utah

1937 Herbert A. Wichelns,* Cornell University

1938 J.T. Marshman,* Ohio Wesleyan University

1939 A. Craig Baird,* University of Iowa

1940 Alan H. Monroe,* Purdue University
1941 W. Hayes Yeager,* George Washington University

1941 Honorary President Thomas C. Trueblood,* University of Michigan

1942 Claude M. Wise,* Louisiana State University

1943 Robert West,* University of Wisconsin

1944 Bower Aly,* University of Missouri

1945 Joseph F. Smith,* University of Utah

1946 W. Norwood Brigance,* Wabash College

1947 Magdalene Kramer,* Columbia University

1948 Rupert Cortright,* Wayne State University

1949 J.H. McBurney,* Northwestern University

1950 Horace G. Rahskopf,* University of Washington

1951 Wilber Gilman,* Queens College

1952 Lionel Crocker,* Denison University

1953 H.P. Constans,* University of Florida

1954 Karl R. Wallace,* University of Illinois

1955 Thomas A. Rousse,* University of Texas

1956 Lester Thonssen,* College of the City of New York

1957 Loren Reid, University of Missouri

1958 Elise Hahn,* University of California

1959 John E. Dietrich,* Ohio State University

1960 Kenneth G. Hance,* Michigan State University

1961 Ralph G. Nichols, University of Minnesota

1962 Waldo W. Braden,* Louisiana University

1963 Ernest J. Wrage,* Northwestern State University

1964 Robert T. Oliver*, Penn State University

1965 J. Jeffery Auer, Indiana University

1966 John W. Black,* Ohio State University

1967 Wayne C. Minnick, Florida State University

1968 Douglas Ehninger,* University of Iowa

1969 Marie Hochmuth Nichols,* University of Illinois

1970 Donald C. Bryant,* University of Iowa

1971 William S. Howell,* University of Minnesota

1972 Theodore Clevenger, Jr.,* Florida State University

1973 Robert C. Jeffrey,* University of Texas

1974 Samuel L. Becker, University of Iowa

1975 Herman Cohen, Penn State University

1976 Lloyd F. Bitzer, University of Wisconsin

1977 Wallace A. Bacon,* Northwestern University

1978 Jane Blankenship, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

1979 Ronald R. Allen, University of Wisconsin

1980 Malcolm O. Sillars, University of Utah

1981 Anita Taylor, George Mason University

1982 Frank E.X. Dance, University of Denver

1983 Kenneth E. Andersen, University of Illinois

1984 John Waite Bowers, University of Iowa

1985 Beverly Whitaker Long, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

1986 Wayne Brockriede,* California State University, Fullerton**

1987 Patti P. Gillespie, University of Maryland

1988 Michael M. Osborn, Memphis State University

1989 Gustav W. Friedrich, University of Oklahoma

1990 Mark L. Knapp, University of Texas

1991 Dennis Gouran, Penn State University

1992 Dale Leathers,* University of Georgia

1993 David Zarefsky

David Zarefsky

David Zarefsky is an American communication scholar with research specialties in rhetorical history and criticism. He is professor emeritus at Northwestern University. He is a past president of the National Communication Association and the Rhetoric Society of America...

, Northwestern University

1994 Bruce E. Gronbeck, University of Iowa

1995 Sharon A. Ratliffe, Golden West College

1996 James W. Chesebro, Indiana State University

1997 Judith S. Trent, University of Cincinnati

1998 John A. Daly, University of Texas, Austin

1999 Orlando L. Taylor, Howard University

2000 Raymie E. McKerrow, Ohio University

2001 James L. Applegate, University of Kentucky

2002 V. William Balthrop, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

2003 Judy C. Pearson, North Dakota State University

2004 Isa N. Engleberg, Prince George’s Community College

2005 Martha Watson, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

2006 H. Dan O'Hair, University of Oklahoma

2007 J. Michael Sproule, St. Louis University

2008 Arthur P. Bochner, University of South Florida

2009 Betsy Bach, University of Montana-Missoula

2010 Dawn O. Braithwaite

2011 Lynn H. Turner

• Deceased
• Donald Ecroyd, Temple University, died before assuming the NCA presidency in 1986.

The Executive Director of the National Communication Association is Nancy Kidd.

Non-profit association

NCA is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization with over 8,000 members who work and reside in all of the United States and more than 20 other countries.

See also

• Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
• American Communication Association
• Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
  Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
  The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, or AEJMC, is a major international membership organization for academics in the field, offering regional and national conferences and refereed publications. It has numerous membership divisions, interest groups, publications and...
  
  
• Canadian Communication Association
• Central States Communication Association
  Central States Communication Association
  The Central States Communication Association is a professional, academic organization of university professors, communication professionals, and primary and secondary school teachers. CSCA was founded in 1931 to promote the communications discipline in educational, scholarly, and professional...
  
  
• Cross Examination Debate Association
  Cross Examination Debate Association
  The Cross Examination Debate Association is the largest intercollegiate policy debate association in the United States. Throughout the school year, CEDA sanctions over 60 tournaments throughout the nation, including an annual National Championship Tournament that brings together over 175...
  
  
• Eastern Communication Association
• European Speech Communication Association
• European Communication Research and Education Association
• International Communication Association
  International Communication Association
  The International Communication Association is a non-profit academic association founded in 1950 as the National Society for the Study of Communication , whose members are interested in the study, teaching, and application of all aspects of human communication." The Association maintains an...
  
  
• International Speech Communication Association
• National Forensic Association
  National Forensic Association
  The National Forensic Association is a national intercollegiate organization designed to promote excellence in individual events and debate. The NFA sponsors the NFA Nationals as well many other regional tournaments throughout the year. The 2008 NFA national tournament was hosted by Tennessee...
  
  
• NorthWest Communication Association
• Southern States Communication Association
• Western States Communication Association
• World Communication Association

External links

• The NCA official website
• NCA Press Website, a press project covering NCA's 94th Annual Convention in San Diego