The Association for Business Communication is a community of
scholars-researchers, teachers, and practitioners-engaged in dialogue
that aims to foster excellence in business communication. Nowhere is
this dialogue more fully realized than in our annual forum honoring the
winners of ABC's two most prestigious awards: the Outstanding
Researcher Award and the Meada Gibbs Outstanding Teacher Award.
The Outstanding Researcher Award is given each year to an ABC
member who has a long and distinguished history of research and
publication--and who has made a significant impact on the field of
business communication. This year's winner, Jone Rymer, is notable
not only for her own research and publication but also for her service
as chair of ABC's Publications Board. In this capacity, she has
mentored and co-mentored many ABC colleagues and strengthened the entire
ABC research community.
The Meada Gibbs Outstanding Teacher Award is named for one of our
most beloved colleagues, who was on the path to becoming ABC president
when she died tragically in an automobile accident, leaving behind her a
legacy of outstanding teaching that serves as a model for us all. This
year's winner, Jenny Gilsdorf, is a past president of ABC who
exemplifies the scholarship of teaching in her ability to learn from her
students and to share what she learns with her ABC colleagues, through
presentation and publication.
Jone and Jenny came together this fall in a plenary session that
opened ABC's annual convention in La Jolla. In that forum, they
took the opportunity to reflect on their experiences as researchers and
teachers. Gail Fann Thomas served as responder, taking on the challenge
of highlighting the synergy that connects their ideas.
It is significant and deliberate that ABC begins its annual
convention with this forum honoring our outstanding researcher and
outstanding teacher rather than with a keynote address from an outside
speaker. Our goal is to initiate a conversation that will ripple through
the convention and then outward, by journal publication, to all members
of the ABC community.
If you attended the 2001 Convention in La Jolla, you may have
participated in this conversation in our opening session. If not, we
invite you to join it now by reading the print version of Jone's,
Jenny's and Gail's talks--and by sharing your thoughts with
your ABC colleagues at home and, next November, at the our convention in
Cincinnati, where a new dialogue will begin.
Barbara Shwom (Ph.D. Northwestern University, 1984) is a College
Lecturer for the Writing Program in the College of Arts and Sciences at
Northwestern University and the Northwestern McCormick School of
Engineering and Applied Science, and an adjunct faculty member of the
Kellogg School of Management. Dr. Shwom is also a partner of Shwom &
Hirsch Management Communication Consultants, and is President for The
Association of Business Communication. Correspondence should be
addressed to Barbara Shwom, Northwestern University, Writing Program,
1902 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60201; e-mail: bshwom@northwestern.edu
COPYRIGHT 2002 Association for Business
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