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2001 Minutes - Washington.

Minutes of the Meeting of the
Intercultural and Development Division
Division Five
International Communication Association
May 25, 2001

Introduction
Bella Mody called the meeting to order at 5:17. She introduced ICA President Cindy Gallois and ICA Executive Director Michael Haley.

Remarks by Cindy Gallois
Gallois announced that ICA was soliciting member input on what ICA can do for its members, and how members feel about ICA. She requested that Division Five members sign up to participate in focus groups facilitated by Jennings Bryant and Linda Putnam. One to three focus groups would be scheduled with 10-12 participants from a cross-section of disciplines. Gallois also discussed the upcoming meeting in Seoul, Korea. She said Conference Planner Jennings Bryant had worked with communication experts at the Korean Society for Journalism and Communication Study. She said Korean communication is very sophisticated and encompasses a broad spectrum of many areas. Although the theoretical approaches are similar, there are differences in flavor and culture. The call for 2002 papers was in the 2001 conference packet. Gallois said there will be lots of preconferences; some will be in Japan, Hong Kong, or other locations in the region. There will be a post-conference study tour to Shanghai and Beijing.

Remarks by Michael Haley
Haley said the full call for papers is on the website (www.icahdq.org/2002Call2paper.pdf) and will be in the next ICA newsletter. Although the conference is in July rather than in May, traditional deadlines will remain the same. Decisions will be made in January so that members will have six months to make arrangements. Haley said he, too, was impressed by the level of Korean communication scholarship. One session already planned will feature three Nobel laureates. He hopes participants from the Republic of Korea and North Korea will attend. The theme is Reconciliation through Communication.

Haley said Jennings Bryant will write ICA newsletter columns about the upcoming conference and venue, "in words we haven't seen in the newsletter before." ICA has negotiated an $800 roundtrip fare with Korean Air from five or six gateway cities in the United States. Accommodations at the Seoul Hilton will cost no more than those in Washington, D.C. They also have arranged an $8 fare for ground transportation from the airport, which is located two hours outside Seoul.

Approval of 2000 Minutes
The secretary called for approval of the minutes, which were approved with no discussion.

Annual Report
Bella Mody presented the annual report for the division. The division has had approximately 460 members over the last quarter, equivalent to about 16% of the association's membership. It vies with Organizational Communication and Communication and Technology for second place in division size, after Mass Communication. Members pay $3 per year for division membership.

2001 Conference Papers and Panels
The proportion of submissions and acceptances in each of the three areas of the division for the 2001 conference were:

International: 33/49 papers (67% accepted); 6/8 panel proposals (75% accepted).
Intercultural: 25/35 papers (71% accepted); 1/3 panel proposals (33% accepted).
International Development: 8/13 papers (62% accepted); 3/3 panel proposals (100% accepted).

Over the last several years, International and International Development continued to comprise approximately 2/3 of the submissions, and Intercultural is about 1/3 of the submissions.

International and International Development submissions were evaluated by three peer reviewers each in terms of ratings, a rank, and a yes/no recommendation. The 27 peer reviewers were Craig Allen (Arizona State U), Douglas Boyd (U of Kentucky),Oliver Boyd-Barrett (Cal State Polytechnic U), Richard Burke (Indiana U), Fred Casmir (retired), John Downing (U of Texas, Austin), Richard Gershon (Western Michigan U), Robert Horwitz (U of California, San Diego), Robert Huesca (Trinity U), Melissa Johnson (North Carolina State U), Priya Kapoor (Portland State U), Marwan Kraidy (U of North Dakota), Rashmi Luthra (U of Michigan), Emile McAnany (Santa Clara U), Stephen McDowell (Florida State U), Srinivas Melkote (Bowling Green State U), Andrew Moemeka (Southern Connecticut State U), Nancy Morris (Temple U), Sandhya Rao (Southwest Texas State U), Clemencia Rodriguez (U of Oklahoma), Hemant Shah (U of Wisconsin, Madison), Peter Shields (Bowling Green State U), Sujatha Sosale (Georgia State U), Leslie Steeves (U of Oregon), Joe Straubhaar (University of Texas, Austin), Silvio Waisbord (Rutgers U), and Karin Wilkins (U of Texas, Austin).

Mody reminded members that when they submit a paper or panel proposal to the division, they commit to attending the conference. When they don't attend, they are taking the place of someone else who could have been on the program, because the rate of acceptance is only 60-70%. This year one panel had to be cancelled, meaning that four other papers that were excluded from the acceptances could have been included.

Postage for peer reviews cost the division $125 this year. The division recognized the Telecommunication Department at Michigan State University for paying mailing costs during the first three years of MSU professor Bella Mody's tenure as peer review organizer. We also thanked the Telecommunication Department at MSU for providing $500 towards reimbursing the graduate student who assisted with these reviews for the last four years. We are grateful to Haejin Yun, MSU doctoral candidate in Mass Media, who spent many hours on ICA work this year, particularly because Bella Mody was on sabbatical in India from late January to mid-May.

Mody thanked the Speech Communication Department at California State University, Fullerton, for their support and coverage of postage costs. No other assistance or payments were made for the review process for the intercultural emphasis in the division.

Intercultural submissions were evaluated by three peer reviewers each in terms of ratings, a rank, and a yes/no recommendation. Peer reviewers included Mary Jane Collier (U of Denver), William Gudykunst (California State U, Fullerton), James W. Neuliep (St. Norbert College), John Oetzel (U of New Mexico), Judith Sanders (Cal Poly Pomona), and Stella Ting-Toomey (California State U, Fullerton).

Top Papers
Mody said ICA only grants each division three registration waivers, which we give to the students with top papers. This year financial awards were given to top paper winners, too. We had funds to do this because Mody asked ICA whether we could carry over unspent funds from last year. As a result, ICA changed its policy this year by allowing all divisions to carry over their funds, for once. The new policy approved by the Board in May 2001 limits the carry-over to a total of two years' dues for current division membership numbers. Division Five presented $200 to each Top Paper winner and $100 to each Top Student Paper. Mody emphasized that the largest portion of division dues goes back to members in the form of paper awards.

Top Paper winners were:
Intercultural: Tetsuharu Koyama and Scott Jacobs (U of Arizona, Tucson), "Universals and Divergences in Perceived Politeness: A Comparison of Native and Non-native Speakers of English."
International Development: Robert Huesca (Trinity U, San Antonio), "Integrating Theories of New Social Movements and Participatory Communication for Development."
International: Yeidy M. Rivero (U of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio), "Erasing Blackness: Media Construction of Race and Mi Familia, the First Puerto Rican Situation Comedy with a Black Family."

Top Student Papers were:
Intercultural: Karadeen Y. Kam (U of Arizona, Tucson) "Conceptualizing the Essential Components of Social Exchange: Cross-Cultural Implications for Marital Satisfaction and Commitment."
International: Helen Sun (Florida State U, Tallahassee) "Guarded Gates to the Forbidden City: The Internet in China."

The division initiated the first annual Division Five Top Doctoral Dissertation Awards this year. Eleven applications were reviewed by Stella Ting-Toomey, John Mayo, and Karin Wilkins. Thanks to the reviewers and Vice Chair Rich Wiseman (Intercultural) for handling the review process. The winners, who will receive a $150 cash award, are:
Intercultural: Richard Wilkins (U of Massachusetts)
International Development: Gery M. Alumit (Michigan State U)
International: Sandra G. Carter (U of Texas, Austin)

Conference Highlights and News
Division Five also submitted and won a Communication Research Matters theme session slot. Division members Cees Hamelink (U of Amsterdam) and Everett M. Rogers (U of New Mexico) were featured along with Christopher Simpson (American U). Bella Mody was chair. We also hosted a pre-conference session proposed by Ken Donow of VOA and a post-conference on ICA-IAMCR partnerships proposed by Tom Jacobson (SUNY, Buffalo). The 2001 Division program also featured its annual reception on the first day and its annual Vice-Chair's ethnic dinner on the second day. The dinner was held at Meskerem, an Ethiopian restaurant a few blocks from the hotel.

Joe Cappella appointed Mody to represent the division on the Cheney Internationalization Committee. The major recommendation from the group was that ICA create an Internationalization Action Committee consisting of relevant board members and division representatives to select ICA members for foreign conference participation. The selection procedures they follow must be fair, respectful of international expertise, workable, and transparent.

Mody urged Division Five members to respond to every opportunity to play an official role in ICA leadership to maximize exposure to Division Five perspectives and specializations. She encouraged us to take advantage of any chance to serve on ICA committees.

Division Five (Karin Wilkins and Bella Mody) edited a special issue of Communication Theory on Communication and International Development (under preparation). They are grateful to Michael Cody and his editorial board for the opportunity.

Webmaster Vicente Berdayes (St. Mary's U) was unable to make the conference, but sent an email that Mody summarized for members. His new efficient member-friendly design allows us to update publications and post announcements on the site ourselves. There also is a resource library and an archive of division documents. Mody reminded members to be sure to update your information about yourself. Berdayes is willing to continue as webmaster in 2001-02.

Recently there were ICA calls for nominations for President-elect and Student Board Member. Jody Waters (Karen Wilkins' student) was elected Student Member of the ICA Board. ICA also was searching for experts in Oceana, Africa, and the Americas. Mody said Division Five needs to have members in good standing run for election to these Board positions from around the world. Nominations were open until May 28.

Nominations of editor-candidates to succeed present leadership in all ICA journals were tabled by the Board until additional nominations were received, given questions about the appropriate diversity of research foci required in the pool. Nominations for editorship of all three journals are still open and should be sent to Chuck Whitney at UT-Austin. The new Board will discuss the issue and vote on-line on these editorships, or decide at the mid-year November meeting at NCA.

Alan Rubin was nominated and approved as a new ICA fellow at this year's Board meeting.

Division Five Leadership Changes
Mody discussed the change in Division Five leadership. Rich Wiseman will begin his two-year term as Chair, after serving as Vice-Chair for the past two years. Karin Wilkins and Clemencia Rodriguez begin their terms as Vice-Chair and Secretary, respectively, per their recent election by members. Bella Mody has completed her two-year term as Chair, and Melissa Johnson has completed three years as Secretary.
Mody mentioned that Johnson had initially agreed to step in for a year when former Secretary George Barnett was elected Chair of another division. She agreed to continue for a second year when Mody forgot to schedule new elections on time, and now we are are grateful to Melissa Johnson for taking minutes for Division Five a third year in a row.

Budget
Thanks to the carryover, Division Five started the year with $2,771. We spent $128 on peer review postage, $1,350 on awards, and $667 on refreshments for the opening day conference reception. Mody asked members to advise Rich Wiseman about future opening day receptions.

2002-03 Conference and Issues
Mody added some specifics to remarks about the Seoul conference made earlier by Gallois and Haley. The dates are July 15-19. The room rate is $135. In 2003, the conference will be in San Diego. Room rates will be $99.

Mody said she is bequeathing some future agenda items to the new division leaders, Rich Wiseman and Karin Wilkins. One is the process of renaming the division to reflect its tripartite specializations without overlapping with the names of the association and the Instructional and Developmental Communication Division. She said Rich Wiseman and Karin Wilkins will ask members to recommend and vote on alternatives. The second is persuading the ICA Board to make the allocation of conference sessions generally proportional to the number of proposals received by each division. Both Mass Communication and Division Five have raised this issue with the board with no success. The third is increasing participation in the division website.

Announcements
Patrick Murphy announced that submissions for the Global Fusion 2001 Conference are due on July 2. These might be completed papers (two copies, no ID in text); panel proposals; or 1,000-word extended abstracts with bibliographies. Authors of selected papers and panels will be notified by August 1. The conference is at the Adam's Mark Hotel in St. Louis, MO, Oct 12-14. See www.siue.edu/gf2001 for more details, or email Cynthia Cooper (cycoope@siue.edu) or Patrick Murphy (pmurphy@siue.edu).

Joe Straubhaar announced the Digital Divide Symposium in Austin, Nov. 16-18, the first joint meeting between the ICA and IAMCR. http://communication.utexas.edu/college/digital_divide_symposium/
There will be two plenary panels with researchers from Europe, US, Latin America,
Africa and Asia. Joe said there will also be a number of sessions for papers and proposed panels, so submissions of abstracts for both papers and panels are welcome. Email two- to four-page proposals to Wolfgang Donsbach, with copies to John Downing (jdowning@mail.utexas.edu) and Joe Straubaar (jdstraubhaar@mail.utexas.edu). Papers will be peer reviewed, must address the symposium's theme, and be explicit about the empirical basis of the paper's evidence. The symposium's language will be English. Proposals are due June 15, 2001.

For additional information, contact Wolfgang Donsbach, Department of Communication, Dresden University of Technology, 01062, Dresden, Germany; phone: +49.351.463.3533; Fax: +49.351.463.7067; email:
wolfgang.donsbach@mailbox.tu-dresden.de

Silvio Waisbord (Rutgers U) announced the publication of Media and Globalization: Why the State Matters (Rowman & Littlefield) that he and Nancy Morris edited. He suggested it would make a great gift for both "grads and dads."

Bill Starosta (Howard U) is editing the upcoming International and Intercultural Annual. This year's theme is "Ferment in the Intercultural Field." The deadline is the first week of July. Next year's theme is "Dialogue Among Diversity." A flyer was distributed about Volume 24 of the Annual: (Inter)national/cultural Communication: Critical Transformative Directions, edited by Mary Jane Collier. The volume is in press and will be available in November from Sage Publications.

Donal Carbaugh (U of Massachusetts) announced that a subsequent special issue of Communication Theory would deal with the notion of the stranger, following Everett Rogers' recent work on George Simmel's original concept. He also announced two new faculty positions for division members at U Mass next year.

Mary Bresnahan has been promoted to full professor in the Department of Communication at Michigan State University. Silvio Waisbord has been promoted to associate professor with tenure at Rutgers University.

Daya Thussu (U of North London) said that in response to calls for opinions of the conference, he noticed how very American it is in its approach to research. He offered that one way to increase the diversity of approaches is to expand the pool of reviewers to reflect an international membership and international association. He suggested that Transnational be one term considered in thinking about renaming the division because it suggests flows of people, capital, and ideas.

Rich Wiseman mentioned the time constraints and logistical problems of distributing large numbers of papers and proposals, given a turnaround time of three weeks. The possibility of emailing electronic versions of submissions to international reviewers was mentioned. Thussu noted that email distribution is ecologically sound and works fairly easily. In support, Clemencia Rodriguez said that she circulated 10 papers for the preconference with success. It was mentioned that other conferences are posting papers for reviewers at special websites. Wiseman said that some professors prefer not to review on-line or print volumes of paper at their offices.

Antonio La Pastina (U of Texas, San Antonio) said that expanding the review process is a way to expand cooperation and participation in the conference. However, the bigger issue in internationalizing the division and ICA is to find ways to fund participation by others in countries who cannot afford conference travel. He recommended arranging a few sessions as Distance Learning/Virtual Sessions.

Clemencia Rodriguez asked for clarification on the discussions within the division of a possible split in the division (splitting Intercultural and International). Rich Wiseman had mentioned that he was against splitting the International and Intercultural areas of the division when he spoke at the Top Paper session before the business meeting. Wiseman said that these were historical discussions of long standing, and that he would prefer that intercultural researchers remained part of this division. His plan was to get all three specializations to work together harmoniously.

Doug Boyd reminded members not living in the Korean Air U.S. gateways will be paying more than $800 for airfare because they need to fly to a gateway from their own cities.

Presentation of Awards
Bella Mody presented certificates with an overlay of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. to all top paper awardees, along with checks.

Remarks by Rich Wiseman
Wiseman thanked the dissertation reviewers (Mayo, Ting-Toomey, and Wilkins, mentioned earlier) for reading eleven dissertations and selecting three winners.

Wiseman thanked Bella Mody for her service to ICA and Division Five, declaring Mody to be a wonderful advocate for the division and its scholarship and a hard worker. He said that she not only was a leader who provided vision for us, but she presented a vision of us in the eyes of other divisions - upgrading our standing in the association immensely. Wiseman thanked her for her mentorship of him, and presented her with a large silver and gold desk clock commemorating her many contributions to the division.
Karin Wilkins concurred with Wiseman, saying that Mody's research and ability to work in administration were great contributions to the division.
Mody graciously accepted the commemorative clock.

Meeting Adjourned
The meeting adjourned at approximately 6:30 p.m.


Intercultural Development Communication, a division of the International Communication Association.
Webmaster: Clemencia Rodriguez (University of Oklahoma). Last update: April 30, 2002