NCA Annual Convention

After a second year that challenged all of us in so many ways, my heartfelt thanks goes out to those of you who traveled to Seattle to attend our 107th Annual Convention. Following our virtual convention last year, we committed to return to an in-person format and I am so appreciative that you took the leap of faith to join us. Together we embraced the necessary masks and other health precautions with good cheer, and enthusiastically engaged with one another around our theme of “Renewal and Transformation.” I hope that you came away from the Annual Convention as hopeful and reinvigorated as I am regarding the future of our association and our discipline.
 
Special thanks to you for making this convention an extraordinary success, for sharing your insights through your submissions, presentations, panel discussions, and in our special series, including G.I.F.T.S, Short Courses, Teachers on Teaching, Research in Progress Roundtables, Scholar to Scholar sessions, and Preconferences. I especially wish to thank my fantastic planning team for their efforts in shepherding these special sessions so splendidly.
 
I also am so grateful for the commitment of the members who planned the four sessions that made up the “Renewal and Transformation” series, Democracy, Dissent, Disruption, and Discipline: Casey Kelly, Andre Johnson and Amanda Nell Edgar, Diana Ivy, and Jimmie Manning. Your creative efforts yielded four outstanding spotlight sessions.
 
Three additional highlights of the convention deserve special thanks and recognition. First, my deep gratitude goes to Tina M. Harris, Louisiana State University, for delivering the Carroll C. Arnold Distinguished Lecture, which challenged us to enact “Intentional Transformation in the Midst of Change,” and to Pearson for sponsoring this event. Second, my sincere thanks to the panelists in our Opening Session, Honoring Past and Present: Comunication, Culture, and Change in Native Seattle, and to the session's sponsor, the Waterhouse Institute for the Study of Communication and Society. Last, but certainly not least, my thanks go to David McMahan for his outstanding Presidential Address, and to Routledge, Taylor & Francis for its sponsorship of this session.
 
Finally, my sincere thanks goes to all of you who also devoted your labors to the work of our association through your participation in the Legislative Assembly, Executive Committee, our Task Forces, Councils, and Committees, and in your unit leadership roles. And my deep gratitude also goes to our National Office staff for devoting their time and talents to making our Annual Convention a success.
 
We are a thriving and dynamic association because of the energy and commitment of our members! Thanks to all for your commitment to advancing our discipline and our association through your teaching, research, and service. I look forward to seeing you when we gather again in New Orleans for our 108th Annual Convention!

Roseann M. Mandziuk
NCA First Vice President