Summary Statement
I try to put my money where my mouth is when it comes to service. Since I firmly believe in the value of service (as you can see from my Critical Servant article, and my incorporation of service learning into my teaching), I try to convert that believe into action as often as I can. The following clearly shows that I have demonstrated achievement in the area of service to this academic community.

The "bread and butter" of service for academics is committee work. I've served on National, Regional, University-wide, and Departmental committees for several years now. At the departmental level, I have presided over several extremely hard-working committees. While I was chair, the curriculum committee pushed through seventeen proposals revising all areas of the department. These revisions included new checksheets for all of the concentration areas, several new courses, significantly updating the COM 1100 (Foundations of Human Communication) course, and adding prerequisites. Currently, I'm heading the effort to put online our course evaluations. I tend to avoid committees that do not accomplish work quickly, and when I am chair of a committee I do my best to ensure that the committee produces high-quality and high-impact results as quickly as possible.

Beyond committee work, I've done many other things that qualify as service to the department. I've been a tireless advocate for more resources for the department whenever I get the opportunity. I often serve as the local "tech support" person when Douglas is not available. Of course, I've also advised students, served as the faculty advisor for a fraternity, and done other "normal" service tasks.

I've also served at the local community level. Some of that service is not directly related to my job, such as coaching soccer. But coaching the Blowing Rock Odyssey of the Mind Team, which is a creative competition, definitely was related to communication. What we try to teach elementary school children in this program is critical thinking, creativity, and expression — all components critical to communication. Taking this team to the state finals was a great experience.

I'm also very proud of the fact that every year, two to four of my students present papers at either the Undergraduate Honors Conference of the Southern States Communication Association, or the Carolinas Communication Association Convention. I work for many hours with these students on their papers, guiding them through the writing and revising process, helping the prepare for their presentations, and finally attending their panels at the conference. Our department has a very strong tradition of sending many students to these conventions. I've been very excited be a part of this (even though organizing the transportation and lodging gets a bit like trying to herd cats). I think I do an excellent job of instilling in our students the value of "the life of the mind."

I've also tried to make myself available to serve these associations that sponsor the conventions. I've done this by serving as a respondant to panels, and (an effort of extreme magnitude) as organizer/local host for the yearly conference of the American Communication Association.

This is one of the most difficult areas for me to write about, mostly because I believe service needs to be done without expectation of reward. So I have a hard time "blowing my own horn" about activities that (in my opinion) should be done in private. But I believe (hope?) that my service to this department, or better yet my serving attitude, is evident from the list that follows.

Activities

• Committees, National
  • Board of Directors, American Communication Association, 1998–2002
• Committees, Regional
  • Publications Committee, Southern Communication Association, Fall 2002–present
• Committees, University
  • Library Building Committee, Spring 2001–present
  • Academic Integrity Board, Summer 1999–present
  • Part-Time and Non-Tenure Track Faculty, Summer 1999–Summer 2000
• Committees, Departmental
  • Assessment, Spring 1999–Spring 2000, Fall 2001–present
  • Public Relations, Fall 1999–present
  • Technology, Fall 2000–Fall 2001
  • Curriculum, Fall 1999–Fall 2001
• Professional Affiliations
• Southern States Communication Association, 1998–present
• Carolinas Communication Association, 1998–present
• American Communication Association, 1997–present
• National Communication Association, 1991–present
• Advising
  • Faculty advisor for Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity, Fall 2000–Spring 2002
  • Full Departmental advising load, Fall 1998–present
• Student Research Mentoring
  • 2–4 students per year present papers from my classes at regional and state conventions
• Workshops/Forums
  • Organized and ran a series of workshops for faculty in the ASU Department of Communication on effective email use and webpage design: Boone, NC, Oct. 9–10, 1999.
  • Organized and moderated a series of Student forums for the Department of Communication at Appalachian State University, Spring 1999.
  • Organized and moderated a day-long Graduate Student Workshop titled "Learning to Live the Life of the Mind—Without Losing It" at the National Communication Association Convention: Chicago, IL, Nov. 19–23, 1997.
• Convention Planning
  • Served as local host for 2001 American Communication Association Conference, held in Boone, NC. Arranged housing, transportation, tours, panels, receptions, meals, book auction, and other aspects.
• Convention Responses
  • Responded to Undergraduate Honors Conference Panel titled "Studies of Computer Mediated Communication" at the Southern States Communication Association Convention: Winston-Salem, NC April 3–7, 2002.
  • Responded to Panel titled "Current Issues in Communication" at the American Communication Association Convention: Lafayette, LA Sept. 30–Oct. 3, 1999.
• Webmaster/"Digital" Services
  • Created PowerPoint presentation for intial Advisory Board meeting, Nov. 20th, 2001
  • Webmaster for the American Communication Association, Spring 1999–Fall 2000.
  • Webmaster for the Department of Communication at Appalachian State University, Spring 1998–present. Responsible for many improvements, including: adding a database for students and alumni to facilitate contacts, adding information on researching on the Internet, building an online appointment program for reserving the department's data projector, and much more.
  • Set-up and moderated several listservs, including one for majors in the department (COMMAJ-L) and one for Computer-Mediated Communication Pedagogy (CMCPED-L), spring 1998–present.
• Newsletter Contributions
  • Contributed essays to Reflections, the annual newsletter for ACT (Appalachian and the Community Together), Fall 2001, 2002
• Local Community Service, Profession-related
  • Service Learning Projects: 1999-2002
  • Coach, Odyssey of the Mind Team, Blowing Rock School, Fall/Spring 1997/8, 1998/9, 2000/1
  • Judge, ASU Debate/IE Tournament, Fall 1997–2000

Introduction | Discovery | Integration | Application | Teaching | Service/Other