Welcome from the Women’s Caucus Planner

Welcome Women’s Caucus members! I hope that you are excited about the 2011 National Communication Association conference. The theme for this year, “Voice,” allows us, as a Caucus, to give voice to many of the issues we face in the discipline, academia and our lives. Last year we celebrated the Caucus’ 40th anniversary. During this time we reflected on how women’s voices have become more visible within academia due to the work of women in the Caucus. Women’s unique perspectives are not always given in society and within our discipline. However, our panels provide an opportunity for us to come together every year to give “Voice” for the women of NCA and the communication discipline.

This year we had many wonderful panels submitted. We had a total of 29 panels submitted, with 18 panel slots available for programming. We ended up with a 58.9% acceptance rate for the panels. Four of those panels are our traditional WoMentoring panels, put together by our graduate student representatives. Three panels are co-sponsored with other divisions and caucuses of NCA. The remaining panels address many issues within academia, such as dealing with “difficult” people, advising black-identified women, and mothering within academia. Several others give “voice” to the changing landscape for women, feminism, and challenging conversations that are occurring regarding women in the world.

Our student representatives created four panels that create “Voice” for those women entering into the discipline and transitioning to becoming faculty members. The WoMentoring panels allow the Caucus to nurture and develop future scholars. Another panel, “Voices of the Caucuses: An Intercaucus Panel Toward Connecting on Interrelated Issues” came from last year’s co-sponsored panel with the Caucus on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns. Realizing the need to come together to address common issues of all of the caucuses, this panel will give “voice” for all caucus members.

We hope that you can make as many of the Women’s Caucus panels as possible, including the business meeting and the Francine Merritt/Bonnie Ritter reception. This year we will get to honor this year’s recipient, Dr. Patricia Geist-Martin, and connect with each other another year. It will be exciting to see you all in New Orleans!

LaKresha Graham

LaKresha Graham, Ph.D.

Women’s Caucus Vice Chair & Program Planner

Assistant Professor

Department of Communication and Fine Arts

Rockhurst College

LaKresha.Graham@Rockhurst.edu

WoMentoring Panels:

Voices Across Disciplines: WoMentoring Cross-Discipline Appointments

WoMentoring Female Scholars: From Graduate Students to Faculty Members

WoMentoring Panel: Entering into Faculty Life

WoMentoring Panel: Finding our Voice

Co-Sponsored Panels:

Voices of the Caucuses: An Intercaucus Panel toward Connecting on Interrelated Issues (Co-Sponsored with Asian / Pacific American Caucus, Black Caucus, Caucus on Disability Issues, Caucus on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns and La Raza Caucus)

Threading our Stories: A Communal Exploration of Women’s Voices in Academic Debate (Co-sponsored with the American Forensic Association and Cross Examination Debate Association)

Voicing our Concerns by Radicalizing Help in the Six-Woman Show “2nd Helping” (Co-sponsored with the Performance Studies Division)

Welcome to the temporary site for the National Communication Association’s portal for information regarding the Women’s Caucus and Feminist & Women Studies Division.  We will eventually move this site to the NCA website and will grow the site more from that location. We hope you will stay tuned to the many exciting developments under foot with the Women’s Caucus and FWSD!