1999 Business Meeting Minutes

Western States Communication Association
Health Communication lnterest Group Business Meeting
February 22, 1999

Leigh Ford, New Mexico State U, Immediate Past Chair, called the 1999 business meeting of WSCA's Health Communication lnterest Group to order at 5:15 p.m. Ford was filling in for Gust Yep, San Francisco State U, Chair, who was unable to attend the meeting. The members in attendance approved the minutes of the 1998 business meeting.

Dawn Braithwaite, U of Nebraska-Lincoln, WSCA Vice-Chair and 2000 Convention Program Planner, reported on next year's convention. The convention theme is "Centering Communication in our Communities." In the handout prepared by Braithwaite, she stated, "As we meet in the year 2000, we will highlight ways our scholarship, teaching, and service occur in our communities and make a contribution to our communities. While our campuses are certainly one of our communities, we will stress those contributions we can and do make 'out of the ivory tower' and in the communities in which we, our students, and our publics live, work, and play."

Braithwaite noted that WSCA membership has declined a bit and encouraged members attending the convention to bring in colleagues, students, and others interested in communication scholarship and teaching. She reminded meeting attendees that the 2000 convention is in Sacramento and the 2001 WSCA Convention is in Coeur d'Alene, ID.

Leigh Ford thanked Gust Yep for his hard work as HCIG Chair and 1999 interest group program planner. The HCIG was given 8 slots (including the business meeting) and all slots were filled. Ford thanked the paper and panel reviewers, Christina Beck, Ohio U; Jenifer Kopfman, U of Toledo; Anne McIntosh, Communication Connection; Scott Moore, CSU, Fresno; and Nikki Townsley, Purdue U. Ford expressed concern about the low number of submissions and stressed that HCIG members need to recruit people for convention programs and panels.

Ford announced the Interest Group's top papers: "Persuasive Health Communication: A Comparison of Stage-Matched Strategies and Traditional Tactics of Lifestyle Change in Cardiac Rehabilitation," Robert Scales and Kenneth Frandsen, U of New Mexico; and "Communicating Efficacy in HIV Prevention Pamphlets: Using Fear Appeal Theory to Promote Self-Efficacy and Response-Efficacy Messages over Threat Messages," Marifran Mattson and Melanie Taylor, Purdue U.

Dennis Alexander, U of Utah, the new WSCA President and 1999 Convention Program Planner, briefly attended the meeting to thank Gust Yep for his efforts as the HCIG program planner.

Stephanie Coopman, San José State U, incoming HCIG Chair and 2000 interest group program planner, chaired the remainder of the meeting. Coopman reported on the Saturday morning Program Planners meeting. All interest groups have $100 to spend. After discussion, the HCIG members in attendance elected to award that $100 to the top student-authored competitive paper. The paper does not have to be a debut paper, but in the case of multiple authors, all authors must be students.

Next year's Basic Course Conference will be on service learning. Betsy Bach, U of Montana, Preconference Director, has a tentative format for the preconference which includes 1-2 model programs in the morning and workshop/poster sessions in the afternoon. She indicated in the program planning meeting that interest groups can submit workshops. The HCIG members discussed this idea and decided that individual interest group members may want to pursue this option.

There will be a contest to redesign WSCA's brochure. The HCIG members requested copies of the present brochure to identify necessary changes. Coopman agreed to contact Braithwaite concerning this issue.

Master Teachers can be nominated by interest groups. That is, nominees do not have to belong to the Communication and Instruction Interest Group. Madeline Keaveney, HCIG Secretary, was so honored at this year's convention. If members are interested in nominating someone for the Master Teacher Award, they should contact the program planner for the Communication and Instruction Interest Group.

Coopman also reported Braithwaite's suggestion that each interest group have a notebook that is given to the incoming chair with sample letters, reviewer rating sheets, and other relevant information. Coopman agreed to do this and bring it to the 2000 Convention.

Julie Yingling, Humboldt State U, was unanimously chosen for the HCIG vice-chair position. She will be the Interest Group's program planner for the 2001 convention in Coeur d'Alene, ID. Christina Beck, Ohio U, was unanimously chosen for a 2-year tenure as the HCIG secretary. Paper/panel readers elected were Marva Smith, San Diego State U, and Renée Gillespie, U of Colorado-Boulder. The chair will identify at least two other HCIG members to serve as readers. Rather than elect Legislative Assembly representatives, the members decided to have the HCIG chair and vice-chair fulfill those duties.

The members decided to correspond by email to generate possible panel topics for the 2000 convention.

The last topic discussed was the HCIG website. Stephanie Coopman, HCIG webspinner, gave attendees a handout with the front page of the HCIG site. She asked for suggestions to include more or different information on the site. Attendees suggested including a list of the HCIG convention panels and papers and a list of members with their research interests. The group particularly wanted to encourage students to use the member list as a way to identify others with similar interests. Coopman reminded the group that the interest group does have a listserv which can be accessed from the HCIG website.

Meeting adjourned at 6:05 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Stephanie J. Coopman
Chair