Greetings RMCA community,

I am pleased to announce this year’s conference, Communication: Conducting and Constructing Reality, on April 21, 2012 at Group Publishing in Loveland, CO. The keynote address will be delivered by Deanna Sellnow of the University of Kentucky.

From our first experiences in introductory communication courses, through advanced research on communicative phenomenon, we bear witness to the instrumental and constitutive traditions of communication. That is, communication serves instrumental purposes, allowing people to negotiate relationships, tasks, and meanings in a variety of contexts, everyday. But just as communication allows us to conduct, it also constructs. Communication creates the very realities we find ourselves a part of, including the identities, institutions, cultures, and issues we rely upon communication to help navigate. Though a certain degree of tension exists between the functional and interactional, the conducting and constructing traditions of communication, it is clear that any comprehensive understanding of human communication must account for both.

At the 2012 RMCA, we seek to explore the range of communication, honoring its history and prospects as a functional medium which serves human agents; and its history and prospects as an interactional medium which creates human agency. We invite the submission of papers and panels that consider how communication conducts and creates reality in the individual, family, relational, organizational, educational, cultural, intercultural, rhetorical, and mediated realms. Submissions outside of this theme are also welcomed and will be given full consideration. Undergraduate students are especially encouraged to submit papers or panel proposals.

The peer review process will begin on February 24, 2012 and all submissions must be received by that date to be considered. Authors of accepted papers and panels will be expected to register for the conference by the pre-registration deadline of April 13, 2012. Submit papers and proposals to

Rocky Mountain Communication Association submission manager.

Completed individual papers may be submitted electronically in MS Word or Adobe PDF format. Please remove all references to the author from the text and include the following in the cover letter/biography box of the submission form:
• Name and affiliation of author or authors
• Title of paper
• 120 word (max) abstract
• Indicate whether the author(s) are faculty members, graduate or undergraduate students

Panel and performance proposals may also be submitted in the above formats and should include the following:
• Proposed title of panel or performance
• Names and affiliations of participants
• 120 word (max) abstract for the entire presentation
• 120 word (max) abstract for each paper (if applicable)

In addition, for both panels and papers, please include any AV equipment requirements or special room considerations. Please understand, however, that while we will make every effort to accommodate requests, we cannot guarantee that they will be met. Please limit requests to those that are absolutely necessary for your presentation.

Award Nominations
Each year, RMCA gives out a variety of awards at its annual luncheon, including certificates for an Outstanding Undergraduate Paper and an Outstanding Graduate Paper selected by the RMCA Leadership Council. In addition to those, please nominate outstanding individuals for the recognitions described below. Nominations can be submitted to Rocky Mountain Communication Association submission manager, and must include the nominee's name, affiliation, and a maximum one-page description of why they are deserving. The award categories are:

Outstanding Teaching Assistant - given to an undergraduate or graduate teaching assistant who has demonstrated excellence inside and out of the classroom.

Award for Communication Excellence (A.C.E.) - given to an individual in recognition of distinguished contributions to the Communication discipline.

RMCA Lifetime Achievement Award - given only on rare occasions to a truly deserving and outstanding representative of our discipline.

All communication regarding the conference should be sent to Christina Foust at cfoust@du.edu.

Thank you for your interest in this year’s RMCA conference, and I look forward to seeing you in Loveland.

Sincerely,

Christina Foust
President-elect and Program Planner
Rocky Mountain Communication Association Conference