National Communication Association Establishes Distinguished Scholarship Award for Africana Communication in Honor of Association’s Past President Orlando Taylor
“I am pleased that NCA has established an award to recognize such an important and consequential area of scholarship within our discipline, and I am especially pleased that it has been named for Orlando Taylor. Dr. Taylor has made significant contributions to the discipline of Communication and to our association over several decades. Significantly, he helped propel Communication to greater prominence in national higher education discussions during his tenure as the association’s first African-American president. I personally have great admiration for Dr. Taylor, and naming this award after him conveys well the stature of the award,” said NCA Executive Director Nancy Kidd.
The award will honor a scholar whose body of work demonstrates a sustained commitment to the study of African American and/or the African Diaspora communication and culture.
Orlando Taylor is Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Research/Director of the Institute for Social Innovation at Fielding Graduate University. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU). Headquartered in Fielding’s Washington, DC office, Dr. Taylor was the Founding President of the Washington, DC, campus of The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Prior to these appointments, he spent more than 30 years at Howard University, where he was a Professor and also served in several senior leadership positions, including Dean of the School of Communications, Dean of the Graduate School, and Vice Provost for Research. “I am both humbled and honored to have the National Communication Association name this prestigious award in my honor,” Dr. Taylor said.
The National Communication Association (NCA) advances Communication as the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media, and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific, and aesthetic inquiry. NCA serves the scholars, teachers, and practitioners who are its members by enabling and supporting their professional interests in research and teaching. Dedicated to fostering and promoting free and ethical communication, NCA promotes the widespread appreciation of the importance of communication in public and private life, the application of competent communication to improve the quality of human life and relationships, and the use of knowledge about communication to solve human problems. NCA supports inclusiveness and diversity among our faculties, within our membership, in the workplace, and in the classroom; NCA supports and promotes policies that fairly encourage this diversity and inclusion.
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