Philip Gray, NIU associate professor and chairman of the Department of Communication Studies, was invited to attend the July National Summer Conference conducted by the Speech Communication Association.

The conference, which is held every 10 years, has the purpose of determining the future of communication education as a discipline. Some of the major conference dicussions included assessment strategies, teacher preparation standards, communication needs of minorities and the integration of language arts.

Gray produced a paper at the conference titled “Improving Speech Communication Assessment: K-12.”

He said, “Thirty leaders in the nation were invited to meet at the conference, and each of the 30 was given a topic to write on. We were divided into small groups and the legislative session debated and discussed the reports of the small groups.”

The selected papers are to be published sometime early next year in a book titled “The Future of Communication Education in the United States.”

This summer’s conference was held in Flagstaff, Ariz., at Northern Arizonia University. Gray said a conference of this type usually takes about four years to plan and put together. The last conference was held in Memphis, Tenn., about 12 years ago.

Gray said, “I was quite honored to be invited to be at this conference; the next one won’t be for another 10 years. There has been massive change (in communication education). The goal is focused on skills and outcome rather than the old eloquential arts and less on speaking.”

Other changes in the field include emphasis on media and specialization in communication studies. Gray said that 10 years ago, health communications was practically a nonexistent discipline.