Communication Matters: The NCA Podcast

NCA past President Judy Pearson pledges $1 million to St. Cloud State University's Communication Department. In this special episode of Communication Matters, Judy and Jeff Ringer, department chair, reflect on how Judy's time in the program shaped her career, and explore the opportunities this gift will create for the department and its future students. 

What are the possibilities for reforming graduate education, including preparing Ph.D. students for job opportunities outside of the academy and the implications of career diversity or alt-ac careers for graduate education? This episode features a conversation on alt-ac careers with Communication Scholar Shantel Martinez, Professor Sarah J. Tracy, and Graduate Student Marco Dehnert.

Communication Professor Karrin Vasby Anderson joins the podcast to answer common questions related to successfully preparing and submitting manuscripts. The conversation will touch on how to write and edit your manuscript to meet the highest standards, how to choose an appropriate journal for your work, and how to handle feedback during the peer review process.

This episode addresses two new special issues of NCA's Review of Communication that focus on the Communication discipline's lack of attention to scholarship by African scholars, from African perspectives, and about Africa. Special issue editors and Communication professors Godfried A. Asante and Jenna N. Hanchey join the podcast.

In this episode, NCA Executive Director Shari Miles-Cohen speaks with University of Maryland, Baltimore's first Chief Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Officer and Vice President Diane Forbes Berthoud on the connections between Communication and Psychology.

When students complete a program of study in Communication, what should they know, understand, and be able to do? Today's episode addresses NCA's Learning Outcomes in Communication (LOC) project, which sought to answer this question.

Hear from scholars José Castro-Sotomayor, Edward Maibach, and Bridie McGreavy as they delve into environmental communication.

This special episode of Communication Matters is the second in the two-part “Communication & Resilience: COVID in Contexts” series presented by NCA. In this episode, the guests will explore interpersonal relationships and social support in the context of COVID-19, both in and outside the classroom.

This year's convention will represent a return to our traditional face-to-face format after last year's virtual convention. In this episode, NCA First Vice President and Primary Program Planner Roseann Mandziuk discusses the upcoming gathering.

This episode focuses on the NCA Center for Communication, Community Collaboration, and Change, or CCCC, which is currently hosted by the University of North Carolina Greensboro.

Hear from Communication scholars Jim Cherney, Janell Johnson, Nathan Stewart, and Sophia Maier about Communication research related to ableism and disabilities, as well as some best practices for classroom and campus accessibility and inclusion.

Communication professor Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Research Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center Daniel Romer discuss their recent study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research about how social media, mainstream media, and conservative media have influenced beliefs in COVID-19 conspiracy theories and intentions to wear a mask or get a vaccine.

Hear from Communication professors Carlnita P. Greene, Amber E. Kinser, Ascan F. Koerner, and Audra K. Nuru as they address the Fourth of July and holiday gatherings broadly, including the relationship between food and nationality, the burdens that family meals can place on women, family communication related to celebrations, and the changes in family gatherings because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hear from Communication professors Garry Bailey, Christina S. Beck, and Stacy Tye-Williams about bullying at school and in the workplace, cyberbullying, and the role that gender, race, ethnicity, and culture play in bullying.

This episode highlights two books that received awards at last year's convention. Mia Fischer discusses Terrorizing Gender: Transgender Visibility and the Surveillance Practices of the U.S. Security State, winner of NCA's 2020 Diamond Anniversary Book Award, and Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz addresses Homeland Maternity: U.S. Security Culture and the New Reproductive Regime, winner of NCA's 2020 James A. Winans-Herbert A. Wichelns Memorial Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Rhetoric and Public Address.

This episode addresses journal reviewing as mentorship and some related issues in journal editing with Devika Chawla, the incoming Chair of NCA’s Publications Council; Mary Stuckey, a past editor of NCA’s Quarterly Journal of Speech, and two veteran reviewers: Denise M. Bostdorff and Rebecca de Souza.

Hear from Communication professors Zhuo Ban, Richie Hao, and Ali Na about anti-Asian hate speech and discrimination, including the rise in violence and xenophobia related to the COVID-19 pandemic and strategies to address these issues.

In this bonus episode as part of NCA’s 2021 public programming series, entitled “Communication & Resilience: COVID in Contexts,” this episode will focus on how COVID-19 has brought changes to education and how those changes create challenges but also present opportunities for digital learning moving forward. 

Hear from Communication professors Ellen Gorsevski, Robert Mejia, and Wei Sun about the state of the Communication Ph.D. How have our programs fared during the COVID-19 pandemic? What is the job outlook for Communication graduates? This episode’s guests will address these questions and many more.

Hear from the authors recently released book, The New PhD: How to Build a Better Graduate Education, Leonard Cassuto and Robert Weisbuch, about the state of graduate school today and the possibilities for reforming graduate education.

Hear from the four regional communication associations: the Central States Communication Association, Eastern Communication Association, Southern States Communication Association, and Western States Communication Association about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their association and more.

Hear from three health communication scholars: Katharine J. Head, Christy J.W. Ledford, and Xiaoli Nan on how public health communication about the COVID-19 virus has changed from nearly a year ago and the insight that communication research can offer into public health communication strategies related to the vaccine. 

Hear from Professors Karen Kangas Dwyer, Pat Gehrke, Suzy Prentiss, and Joshua Westwick about issues related to communication apprehension, including speech anxiety, and how these issues affect both students and professionals.

Hear from Interpersonal Communication scholars Liesel Sharabi and Stephanie Tom Tong about the effects that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on our relationships, including the differences in our use of dating apps and the acceleration of romantic relationships.

In honor of Black History Month, hear from Professors Reynaldo Anderson and Lonny J. Avi Brooks about topics related to Afrofuturism, including definitions of Afrofuturism, examples of Afrofuturism, the importance of Afrofuturism today, and how Afrofuturism can be incorporated in the Communication classroom. 

Hear from four scholars of presidential rhetoric: Stephen Browne, Theon Hill, John Murphy, and Allison Prasch as they address some historical inaugural addresses, as well as President Biden’s recent address.

Hear from the project’s North Carolina State University principal investigators Drs. Victoria Gallagher, Derek Ham, and Keon Pettiway about the vMLK project which recreates one of Dr. King’s iconic speeches through digital technology.

Hear from Professors Jason Edward Black, Daniel A. Grano, and Abraham Khan on a variety of topics within sports communication, including the health risks associated with playing football, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic; issues with sports mascots, particularly the Washington football team’s recent name change; and political activism by athletes related to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Hear from the two candidates running for NCA Second Vice President: Professor Walid Afifi of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Professor Bonnie Dow of Vanderbilt University. Afifi and Dow will each share their experience and vision for NCA.

Hear from NCA First Vice President David T. McMahan about some highlights of the upcoming NCA 106th Annual Convention as thousands of scholars will attend the fully virtual 2020 convention to engage in deep discussions on many topics related to communication.

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, this fall’s public programs will be reimagined as a special series of the Communication Matters podcast. In this bonus episode, hear from Karrin Vasby Anderson, Darrian Carroll, Sumana Chattopadhyay, Kimberley Hannah-Prater, Shawn J. Parry-Giles, Kristina Horn Sheeler, Mary Douglas Vavrus, and Tammy R. Vigil on the topic of Vice Presidents 2020: Kamala Harris vs. Mike Pence.

Hear from Professors Jeffrey Hall, Mei-Chen Lin, and Jordan Soliz about the impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on communication in families and romantic relationships.

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, this fall’s public programs will be reimagined as a special series of the Communication Matters podcast. In this bonus episode, hear from Glenn Bracey, Josue David Cisneros, Lisa A. Flores, and Isaac Hale on the topic of communicating about the role of race and social change in politics.

Hear from Professors Robin M. Boylorn, Maegan Parker Brooks, and Armond Towns about civil rights, the passing of the civil rights generation, the new civil rights generation, and issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, this fall’s public programs will be reimagined as a special series of the Communication Matters podcast. In this bonus episode, hear from Ambar Basu, Eduardo J. Gómez, Susan Mello, and Heather Zoller on the topic of communicating about health in a presidential election year.

Hear from Deanna Dannels, Kory Floyd, Shiv Ganesh, and Ronald Jackson II about their experiences as current or past editors of NCA journals and their thoughts on the challenges facing academic publishing.

Hear from José G. Izaguirre III and Alicia Massie about their experiences as graduate employee labor organizers and the effect that the COVID-19 pandemic may have on graduate employee organizing.

Hear from Professor Leah Litman about the essay, “Muted Justice,” that examines how much time each of the Supreme Court justices was given to ask questions during May’s oral arguments that were made over the phone because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Hear from Professor Dianne Bystrom, Professor Kristan Poirot, Professor Belinda Stillion Southard, and Ella Stillion Southard on the 19th Amendment and on women’s issues today.

Hear from E. Michele Ramsey, co-author of the new book Major Decisions: College, Career, and the Case for the Humanities. Major Decisions argues that the humanities equip today’s students with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in their careers and also prepare them to think about the big questions facing our world and our democracy.

Hear from co-editors Rachel Alicia Griffin and Jonathan P. Rossing about a special issue of NCA’s Journal Review of Communication, which focused on the 2018 Disney and Marvel film Black Panther. 

Hear from Dr. Mary Gould about the Alliance for Higher Education in Prison's work, the importance of promoting postsecondary education in prison, and the relevance of Communication research and teaching to expanding higher education programs in prisons.

Hear from three university administrators Professors Vanessa B. Beasley, Marnel Niles Goins, and Shawn T. Wahl on how colleges and universities have dealt with the pandemic as we simultaneously look forward to what’s likely to happen in the fall.

Hear from Amanda Nell Edgar and Andre E. Johnson, authors of the book The Struggle over Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter, which examines the personal experiences of Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter activists in Memphis, Tennessee.

Hear from Dr. Robin Means Coleman, the author of Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present, a book that was made into an award-winning documentary film in 2019.

Co-editors Shaunak Sastry and Srividya Ramasubramanian discuss a special issue of NCA’s Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, “The subcontinent speaks: Intercultural communication perspectives from/on South Asia.”   

Hear from Professors Megan K. Schraedley and Marianne LeGreco, two of the authors of “Food (in)security communication: a Journal of Applied Communication Research forum addressing current challenges and future possibilities,” about research on communication and food (in)security.

Hear from Robert B. Townsend, Director of the Humanities Indicators Project and Director of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences Washington Office, about the latest Indicators and some of the trends in the humanities.

A discussion of NCA’s newest division, the Communication and Military Division, how Communication scholarship can help us understand Memorial Day, and more. 

Hear from Dr. Connolly about ACLS and some recent ACLS initiatives centered on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and more.

Expert panelists will address the use of political communication in our elections and explore the effects it has on public opinion in an NCA public program recorded as a podcast.