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Date: Tue, 02 Dec 1997 14:41:52 -0600
From: Lawrence Frey <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Joining the NCA Group Communication Division
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Dear Group Communication Scholars and Educators,
 
Bill Eadie just informed me that the first possible chance to join the Group
Communication Division of the National Communication Association will
occur when you renew your NCA membership next time.  (The vast
majority of members do so in the fall, and I will send out a reminder then,
although NCA does have members renewing in every month of the year.)
 
NCA determines unit membership by taking a "snapshot" in January of
each year.  January is the month when NCA membership is highest,
because the association has processed all the memberships, new and
renewal, from the convention by then.
 
For the Group Communication Division, the first time its membership will
be measured will be January, 1999.  It is important for the division to
have 300 members signed up by then, although divisions do not become
commissions until they have fallen below the 300 membership mark for
two years running, so the earliest that would occur would be January
2000.  Until then, the division was approved based on the 300+
signatures submitted, and it will remain a division until proven otherwise
via enrollments.  That means the division has seats in the Legislative
Council for the 1998 and 1999 meetings regardless of what the
enrollment reads; the division would lose its seats in 2000 if it has not
maintained a 300 minimum membership for at least two years.
 
The bottom line is that there are no special procedures in place, nor do
there need to be, for joining the Group Communication Division
immediately.  But please remember to sign up for the division when you
renew your NCA membership.  The division will be listed on the renewal
notices, so it's just a matter of designating that as one of your units
when you renew.
 
Thanks, again, for all your help with creating and now sustaining this
division.  (P.S. Sorry for the three messages last time; it won't happen
again!)
 
Larry Frey
Department of Communication
Loyola University Chicago
6525 N. Sheridan Road
Chicago, IL 60626