Minutes of the 2001 General Business Meeting of the NJCA

1. The meeting was called to order at 1:30pm by Don R. Swanson, NJCA 1st Vice-President.
   
    
2. Welcome and Thanks

   1st Vice President Don Swanson introduced Thomas Pearson, Provost of Monmouth University, who welcomed everyone in attendance to the 5th Annual conference of the NJCA on behalf of President Rebecca Stafford. He congratulated Don Swanson and the conference organizers on an impressive program dealing with an important topic. He also was honored to welcome guest speaker Michael McCurry.

   Don Swanson thanked everyone who contributed to the success of this conference, especially all those who attended and all the presenters. He expressed gratitude to conference sponsors: Comcast for their generous keynote sponsorship grant, the SCILS Alumni Association, Rutgers University, Dean Kenneth Stunkel and the Wayne D. McMurray School of Humanities and Social Science, Monmouth University. He thanked the exhibitors and publishers from around the area. Special thanks were extended to the faculty, staff, and students of the Department of Communication at MU for their support, especially Sherry Wien for coordination, Loren Schmidt and the students of Lambda Pi Eta, and Kris Simoes, for her technical support and design of the program and logo. He also expressed appreciation for the ongoing support of Dean Barbara Salmore, Becton College of Arts and Science, Fairleigh Dickinson University and Dean Gus Friedrich, SCILS, Rutgers University for sponsorship of the New Jersey Journal of Communication. Special thanks were extended to Gary P. Radford, for his leadership as editor of the NJJC and the journal's editorial board for its efforts on behalf of the organization.

3. Constitutional Amendment

   President Martin Itzkowitz introduced a constitutional amendment by reminding the members that NJCA has been attempting to gain tax exempt status for more than a year. One government requirement that we must meet to accomplish this is to include an article or clause in our constitution that states how our assets should be distributed in the event that the association dissolves. The NJCA executive board believes that the choice of designee, below is essentially symbolic for the foreseeable future, since we are and hope to be a continuing body was made in consideration of the Rutgers SCILS Alumni Association's long standing support of our own and thus proposed an amendment as follows:

   The Amendment: Resolved that the following paragraph be incorporated in the NJCA constitution as Article 9: Dissolution. In the event the association dissolves, all assets shall be transferred to the Rutgers SCILS (School of Communication, Information and Library Sciences) Alumni Association, Winants Hall, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901.

   The Amendment was passed unanimously.

4. Election

   President Itzkowitz thanked the nominating committee and Chair Jennifer Lehr (Fairleigh Dickinson Univ.) for their work in preparing the state of officers, presented the slate to the membership, and asked for nominations from the floor. The slate was approved unanimously. The 2001-2002 Executive Board of the NJCA is:

   President	Don Swanson (Monmouth)*
   1st Vice President	Jennifer Lehr (FDU)*
   2nd Vice President	John Pollock (TCNJ)
   Past President, Ex Officio	Martin Itzkowitz (Rowan)*
   Editor of NJJC	Gary P. Radford (FDU)*
   Recording Secretary	Marie L. Radford (Pratt)*
   Treasurer	Anntarie Sims (TCNJ)
   Membership Director	Sherry Wien (Monmouth)
   New Media Director	David Petroski (Rider)
   Historian	Thomas Gencarelli (Montclair)
   At-Large 1	Casey Lum (WPUNJ)
   At-Large 2	Eleanor Novek (Monmouth)
   At-Large 3	Michael Goodman (FDU)
   Special Projects	Christine Lemesianou (Montclair)
   Student Rep	Bill Devers (FDU)
   K-12 Rep (Public)	David Yastremski (Ridge High School)
   K-12 Rep (Private)	(open)
   Corporate Rep	James Irwin (Okazo Corporation)
   Community College	Stephen Cooper (Brookdale)
   Public Relations	Mary Lee Donahue (Rowan)

   Note: Positions with asterisks (*) were filled by those succeeding into office and/or those who are not up for election.

5. Awards

   John Pollock (TCNJ) announced that this year student papers made up 40% of the program and thus the task of choosing the top student papers was quite difficult. There was a three way tie for top graduate paper. He presented certificates to the student award winners.

   Graduate winners (three way tie):

   Barbara Sweeney (Monmouth) for "Local News, Local Bias: How Three Monmouth County Newspapers Framed Issues of Low-Income Housing."

   Nancy Carmody (Monmouth) for "Blurring the Boundaries Between Feminism and Motherhood: How Contemporary Stay-at-Home Mothers are Reconstructing their Social Identity."

   Susan Bagley Koyle (Rutgers) for "A Study of Dialogic Communication in a Cause Lobbyist Web Site."

   Undergraduate winner:

   Chuck Auletta, Elizabeth Hartwick, Gina Brockenbough, & Renee Carpentier (TCNJ) for "Nationwide Newspaper Coverage of Trying Juveniles as Adults: A Community Structure Approach."

6. President-Elect Takes the Gavel

   Martin Itzkowitz turned the gavel over to President-Elect, Don Swanson and thanked him for all his work in planning the conference.

7. Announcements

   NJJC. Editor Gary P. Radford (FDU) announced that the NJJC was doing very well and invited all present to participate in the journal both by submitting papers for publication and by joining the article review board.

   NYSCA Secretary Marie L. Radford (Pratt Institute) announced that the New York State Communication Association would be holding its annual conference from October 5-7, 2001 at Kutsher's Country Club in Monticello, NY. She invited all NJCA members to attend the conference and to submit papers. Deadline for submission of papers is April 6, 2001 (Note: Extended until April 20, 2001).

   NJCA 6th Annual Conference. 1st Vice President Jennifer Lehr announced that the 6th NJCA Conference would be held at Fairleigh Dickinson University in the spring of 2001. Jennifer Lehr is the conference planner and she urged the membership to help provide theme ideas, propose panels, submit papers, and be involved in organizing a successful conference.

   Feedback. Sherry Wien (Monmouth) reminded everyone present to complete and turn in the conference feedback forms.

8. The meeting was adjourned at 2:17pm.
   
    

   Respectfully submitted,

   Marie L. Radford, Recording Secretary

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