10/22/2025
CSCA Faculty Learning Community Call for Participants
CSCA Faculty Learning Community
The Central States Communication Association invites students/scholars who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to participate in a Faculty Learning Community for 2025/2026.
Purpose: The CSCA Faculty Learning Community will engage Black, Indigenous, and People of Color students/scholars in a curriculum program to help enhance teaching and research around a specific topic per calendar year. The FLC aims to foster a sense of community among these scholars at CSCA. The theme for CSCA this year is “Translate.”
Theme for 2025/2026: "Amplify: Elevating Voices, Expanding Impact"
- Builds on belonging by focusing on visibility and influence
- Connects to elevation themes in the broader discipline
- Emphasizes moving from presence to prominence
- Suggests both amplifying marginalized scholarship and being amplified
This year's FLC theme focuses on how those within the communication field can amplify the teaching, scholarship, and service of minority people to larger audiences within academia and beyond. It is inclusive of the work we do, the students we teach, and the communities we serve. To translate, means to interpret, and in this field, we must do so between/among various cultures, identities, modalities, experiences, etc.
Eligibility:
- Early Career Faculty members (within 5 years of their finishing degree).
- Ph.D. Candidates seeking employment in academia.
- Identify as a person of color- This includes people who identify as non-white, such as African American/Black, Asian, Latinx or non-white identifying Hispanic, or Native American.
Each participant will receive:
- A professional development stipend to reimburse participants for conference expenses. (e.g., for conference registration, membership, lodging, and/or travel)
Participants commit to:
- Attending 6 FLC sessions during the 2025- 2026 year (all on Zoom): Nov. 2025 (Sessions 1 & 2), Dec. 2025 (Session 3), Jan. 2026 (Session 4), Feb. 2026 (Session 5), and Mar. 2026 (Session 6 - pre-conference).
- Showcasing your work created as part of the FLC on a CSCA 2026 panel.
- Participating in/attending 3 CSCA 2026 FLC panel sessions.
Submit:
- 400-500 word essay addressing the following questions:
- Why and how would having a community of faculty of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color benefit your professional and personal development?
- Why would a focus on elevating voices and expanding impact in academia benefit your professional and personal development?
- In what ways can we amplify the voices of marginalized communities in the academy?
Submission Deadline: Sunday, November 7, 2025 by 11:59 pm (CDT).
Email essays and questions to: Dr. Grace Sikapokoo, Northern Illinois University (gsikapokoo@niu.edu) and Dr. Morgan Smalls, James Madison University, smallsmw@jmu.edu