Commission on Freedom of Expression

The National Communication Association (NCA) is a not-for-profit membership-based scholarly society founded in 1914. NCA’s mission is to advance Communication as the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media, and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific, and aesthetic inquiry.

The Association's name has changed over time, from 1914 to today.

National Association of Academic Teachers of Public Speaking (1914–1922) The association was founded in 1914, when 17 speech teachers formed the National Association of Academic Teachers of Public Speaking (NAATPS) to focus on public speaking and persuasion. James M. O'Neill (University of Wisconsin) served as the association's first president. The first convention, hosted in Chicago in 1915, attracted 60 members and featured 16 presenters. Annual dues were $2.00; the convention cost just $1.00. NAATPS launched its first journal, The Quarterly Journal of Public Speaking, within a year of its founding. In 1917, the publication's name changed to Quarterly Journal of Speech Education, and "Education" was dropped in 1928.

National Association of Teachers of Speech (1923–1945) With its membership increasing to 910 and its focus broadening to reflect the diversity of its membership, NAATPS changed its name to the National Association of Teachers of Speech (NATS) in 1923. By 1934, NATS membership topped 2,000. That year, the association began publishing Speech Monographs (now titled Communication Monographs).

Speech Association of America (1946–1969) In 1946, the association again changed its name to the Speech Association of America (SAA) and officially incorporated under this name five years later. In January 1952, SAA launched its third quarterly publication, Speech Teacher (now Communication Education), which was geared toward the classroom teacher.

Speech Communication Association (1970–1996) In 1970, the organization became the Speech Communication Association (SCA). The SCA grew rapidly over the next two decades. A key part of this growth was expansion of member services, including the development of new publications to address changes in the field. These included Journal of Applied Communication (now the Journal of Applied Communication Research) (1973),Critical Studies in Mass Communication (now Critical Studies in Media Communication) (1984), and Text and Performance Quarterly (1989). SCA also expanded its conference and awards programs.

National Communication Association (1997–present) In 1997, to address "all forms, modes, media, and consequences of communication", the association changed its name to the National Communication Association (NCA). In 2001, the association launched the Review of Communication and then in 2008, launched the Journal of International and Intercultural Communication. In 2012, NCA's annual Free Speech Yearbook became a journal, First Amendment Studies.

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