04/27/2011

CSCA - 2011 Conference - Recap

As the semester begins to wind down for many of us, I thought I would take a moment and present you with a few highlights of this year’s convention held April 5-9 at the Hyatt Regency in Milwaukee.

As the semester begins to wind down for many of us, I thought I would take a moment and present you with a few highlights of this year’s convention held April 5-9 at the Hyatt Regency in Milwaukee. 

This year, we surpassed several attendance records. For starters, we had an all-time high of 903 people registered to attend the convention. We had over 100 participants enroll in one of seven short courses. More than 150 members attended one of four GIFT panels. Over 130 undergraduate students attended the Undergraduate Research Honors Conference, which was held concurrently with CSCA in its entirely for the first time. 

At the annual Hall of Fame Awards Luncheon and Business Meeting, we presented multiple awards to some astounding people. This year, we inducted Tom Pace, Donn Parson, Judy Pearson, and David Zarefsky into the CSCA Hall of Fame. Mike Allen, Kelly Tenzek, and Emily Cramer were awarded the Federation Prize. Andrew Ledbetter was named this year’s Outstanding New Teacher. Chris McAllister and Michael Burns received the Cooper Award. The Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal was named the Outstanding State Journal, which was edited by Aileen Buslig, and the Outstanding State Manuscript Award was given to Robert Littlefield and Michael Bartanen. Linda Dickmeyer, Sarah Bonewits Feldner, Scott D’Urso, Deb Uecker, Jessica Eckstein, Lance Lippert, Darlene Hantzis, Joe Mazer, and Scott Titsworth were recognized for their various service contributions. 

Our social events were equally impressive. Fourteen schools (and NCA) provided 21 door prizes that were given away over the course of the convention. The reception held at the Milwaukee Public Museum on Friday was spectacular and the B 4 U Go Home Bash on Saturday was loaded with talent, singing, and dancing. Jimmie Manning was named CSCA Superstar for his rendition of “Great Balls of Fire,” with Kristi Scholten and Michaela DE Meyer named as Superstar runners-up. A dance-off pitted the undergraduate students and faculty of Wayne State College against a combined group of graduate students and faculty from West Virginia University and University of Nebraska-Lincoln, with the WVU/UNL team emerging (allegedly) as the victors. The Fifth Annual Pub Crawl coordinated by Adam Tyma attracted over 200 members. 

On behalf of the Executive Committee, the Interest Group/Caucus planners, and myself, we would like to thank everyone for such an exciting convention and reinforcing the notion that CSCA is, indeed, “home” for so many of us. 

Scott A. Myers
President and 2011 Convention Planner