National Social Science Association

NSSA Newsletter

PDF Format	Spring, 2010

From the Director More than thirty years ago a group of social scientists decided to form a national association for two year college social scientists and this organization was known as the Community College Social Science Association. This association began to host conferences across the country with the ﬁrst conference in San Francisco. Additionally, the organization began publishing a journal. More and more social scientists from four year colleges began to attend this conference because it had an informal, sharing atmosphere. This association eventually evolved into the National Social Science Association which brought together two and four year college social scientists into a new association that continues the same open, informal, and sharing atmosphere. At ﬁrst, a series of regional conferences were held across the country, but collectively decisions were made to hold a national conference in Washington, D.C.. At this time, the National Social Science Association, as we know it today, was formed. Last year the National Social Science Association held it’s 25th anniversary and our organization has come a long way since a few two year social scientists met in San Francisco. I was the coordinator of that meeting and have been involved as director of the Community College Social Science Association, as well as the present director of the National Social Science Association. We have made phenomenal progress since our ﬁrst national meeting of the National Social Science Association in Washington, D.C.. We have had critics who did not like the direction of the association and those who tried to form their own association. We will continue to have critics who feel that our informal, open atmosphere with its ﬂexible organization should reﬂect the structure of many of the large national associations, with numerous committees and formal structures. We have always been an open association that has brought together two and four year college social scientists in an atmosphere conductive to sharing ideas. We have come a long way from the meeting rooms of Washington, D.C. more than twenty-ﬁve years ago! We have a growing list of members, a quality national journal and proceedings journals. We sponsor a well attended national technology and social science conference, a fall professional developmental conference, and summer seminars. Now, we will have the ﬁrst interactive electronic journal, the National Social Science Technology Journal. I want to thank all the board members, who over the years have helped in the growth and development of the association and to all the two and four year college social scientists who have supported our efforts to improve social science education through our meetings and publications. I have enjoyed being executive director of this association through its infancy and growth and I, Jerry Baydo, plan to be executive director as we move through the early years of the 21st century and make the National Social Science Association a real leader in social science education.

Assorted Association Information The National Governing Board first has to say goodbye to some of the board members who have served the association well as member of our national governing board. Ray Ballard, of Texas A&M University, is leaving the board. He has served for years as a board member. Fred Cordova, of Eastern New Mexico, is a board member who started early in the history of the association. He was a colleague of David Marx from Eastern New Mexico who was one of the first journal editors in the history of the association. Angelina DeLaTorre is no longer an active faculty member at Metropolitan State College in Denver and is no longer a national board member. Mitch Gerber first joined the association when it was holding regional meetings in the Midwest. He has had recent health problems and is no longer able to continue as a board member. Bob Koettel of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas has been a key member of the local arrangement committee for years for the national meeting in Las Vegas. He provided student helpers who were essential to the conference for years. We want to thank Bob for his help and his support. Maria Morales is now retired from Texas A&M University and she is no longer an active board member, but she and her husband still attend our meetings.	The National Governing Board wants to welcome as new board members: Reem Abu- Lughod of California State University-Bakersfield, D. Antonio Cantu of Bradley University, Jerry Garrett of Marshall University, William Kirtley of Central Texas College and Pat Kirtley, independent scholar, Terry Lovelace of Northwest Missouri State University, and Barba Patton of the University of Houston Victoria. We also convey good wishes for board members Bob Dewhirst and Larry Fisher who both are going to miss the national conference in Las Vegas this year with health problems. If you wish to share information on your publications and activities, please send that information via email to the association office at natsocsci@aol.com We also are setting up a blog at our website and are expanding our announcements area of the website. We appreciate the support of all the association members for the last twenty five years and look forward to your continued support of our conference, seminars, and publications.

2009 Summer Seminar Fifty, two and four year college instructors gathered at the Outrigger Reef Hotel centrally located on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 2-5, 2009 for the summer seminar. There were three days of presentations along with optional activities such as a luau and a sunset dinner cruise. Presentations included Educational Concerns in the 21st Century: Identifying Culturally Relevant Literature for Young Children, Pre-service Teachers’ Perceptions of Culture and Multicultural Literature: Learning and Teaching in Middle America, The Impact of Health Related Issues on the Education of Homeless, Migrant, and other At-risk Youth Groups Ages 3½ to 6, How to Design Successful Management Strategies for Culturally Diverse Classrooms, Optimal Performance for Teachers in Higher Learning –Three Vital Steps for Teachers to Change the Classroom Experience from the Ordinary to the Extra-Ordinary, Religio-Spiritual Identity Development:A Working Model, Challenges in the Teaching of Social Science Statistics,Why I Teach Surf Culture and History:21st Century Educational Challenges in a “Virtual World”,Where Have All the Pirates Gone? Additionally, there were many more presentations dealing with research, teaching, and technology in the social sciences.

Reflections on the 25th National Conference The association celebrated its 25th national conference April 5-7. 2009 at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel. The association has held many of its past conferences at the Riviera Hotel, but the association decided to change hotels, and the reaction to the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel was very strong from all attendees and participants. It was decided to schedule the 2010 national meeting at the Hilton Hotel. There were three hundred sixty-two faculty and students in attendance for this special 25th anniversary meeting. The sessions throughout the conference were well attended and very spirited. The computer age has hit the conference with computers and projectors in every meeting room with internet access in every meeting room. There were special awards for supporters of the association over the last twenty five years; the following individuals were honored: Trisha Ainsa, Bill and Pat Kirtley, Ron Tarullo, Don Luck, Harvey Foyle, Ray Heitzmann, Rex Wirth, Bob DeWhirst and Mitch Gerber. Most of these individuals have been supporters of the association from its earliest days, and they received recognition at the awards luncheon honoring their work for the association over the years.	Every year at the awards luncheon the member of the year is recognized and this year we had the special awards for long time supporters. We did award Ron Becker of Northeastern State University the David Marx Award for outstanding article in the National Social Science Journal for 2009. His article was a study of the ABOR legislation and its ramifications. Every national meeting features an undergraduate and graduate student paper competition. Amy Warren, of Southeast Missouri State University, was the undergraduate winner with her paper, “The Holocaust and the Role of Religion: During and After”. Jennifer Schiff of Old Dominion University, was the winner of the graduate student paper competition, entitled, “The Death of Malaysia’s Communal Compromise and the Triumph of Economic Globalization”. Angie Bucher, of Bowling Green State University with her paper, “Exploring Elementary and Middle School In-Service Teacher’s Knowledge of Animal Classification: A Comparison of Student and Teacher Misconceptions” was also recognized.

Fall 2009 Fall Professional Development Conference Eighty-eight two and four year college instructors participated in the October 4-6, 2009 Fall Professional Development Conference located at the Holiday Inn Golden Gateway on Van Ness Avenue in downtown San Francisco. The meeting began with a hosted cocktail party on Sunday October, 4th and sessions ran Monday October, 5th and Tuesday October, 6th. Sessions involved topics such as, Education Issues, Psychology in Action, Social Science Examined, Sociology Issues, History Examined, Political Science in Action, Social Issues, Student and Society, International Investigations, Students and Society, Interdisciplinary Approaches, the Uses of Technology. Numerous tours of San Francisco and the surrounding area were available through the hotel, and many participants took advantage of these tours. All who attended and participated received professional development hour certificates.

Members and Publications All members can submit articles to the National Social Science Journal. The submission requirements involve a double-spaced printed copy of the paper with an average of 24 pages of text in APA format, along with a disc containing the double-spaced article. With our new review system, reviews are sent and received electronically. The system is more efficient than ever in the past. Indexing companies, such as ERIC and Social Science Citation Index are now reviewing our journals for their indexes. We are also adding ISNN numbers for our publications.Cabell and EBSCO are two of the leading index companies that are presently indexing our publications. All presenters at our conferences and seminars may submit their paper for the proceedings publication and this is done in digital format on a CD. The NSSA website at http://www.nssa.us now includes the table of contents from the proceedings journal and there is discussion at our national board	meetings of putting entire articles on the website. These proceedings articles reflect the variety of presentations at our conferences and seminars. All past proceedings publications from the 2009 meetings have been published and mailed. The association now has added to its publication list the National Social Science Technology journal; this journal will focus on technology in the social sciences and articles are now being received for this new journal with Trisha Ainsa of the University of Texas at El Paso as the new editor. This will be the first interactive journal of any national association. The association is now looking for book, media, and software reviews from its members. These reviews average two pages single spaced and can be sent electronically to the association email address: natsocsci@aol.com We will continue to update this part of national journals. We will continue through our newsletters to update information on all our publications.

Fall 2010 Fall Professional Development The Fall Professional Development meeting will be held October 10-12,2010 in downtown Reno, Nevada at Harrahs Reno Hotel. The conference will begin with a hosted cocktail party at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday October 10 and will be followed by two days of sessions on Monday October, 11 and Tuesday October, 12. Each morning will begin with a continental breakfast and all meeting rooms will have computers, projectors, and overhead projectors. The association is now soliciting proposals for this meeting, and the proposal form is found at the NSSA website at http://www.nssa.us Highlights of Conference: Centrally located conference hotel Harrahs Reno Special reduced hotel rates $50 single/double with reduced $88 rate for the Friday/Saturday before the meeting Hotel located in downtown Reno and is central to a variety of hotels and restaurants in downtown Reno Opening Cocktail party Sunday night October 10th Continental Breakfasts Monday and Tuesday mornings Sessions on Monday October 11th and Tuesday October 12th Attractions include the sights and sounds of downtown Reno with travel distance to Lake Tahoe and Virginia City Southwest Airlines flies to Reno with discounted rates Registration: $160 member/$210 with one year membership new or renewal There are plans for the fall, 2011 meeting in one of the following cities: San Diego, San Antonio, or New Orleans. The national governing board along with the association conference committee will debate these various sites and decide upon one of these sites for the fall, 2010 professional development meeting.

Conference Presentation and Other Technologies Over the years the use of technology has increased at the Spring conference. Use exploded after the designation of the conference as the technology conference for the organization. With this in mind there are a number of things you can do to make your experience as a presenter less stressful. Help - a technology person will visit each roombetween each session. They will be able to assist you with any questions or needs you may have concerning using the hardware in the room. During the course of the session technology people will check the rooms to see if there are any problems or questions concerning the equipment. Hardware - Most rooms will be setup with an overhead, computer and projector. If you asked for equipment in your proposal form you will be scheduled in a room with needed equipment. We ask that you not disconnect the computer from the projector in order to connect your own. Please wait for the technology person to make any changes you may require. Speakers are not provided. If you need speakers beyond normal computer speakers it is suggested you provide your own. Again, please wait for help in connecting them to the presentation computers.	Presentations - At the beginning of each session all presenters’ presentations will be loaded on the computer. Please bring all presentations on a USB drive or CD and be in the room early enough to copy your presentation to the presentation computer. Internet - Cost for placing internet in the rooms at the conference is prohibitive and the service provided in the rooms is not available in the conference area. We are working to build our own temporary wireless network and anticipate internet access to be available in all session rooms. This is not guaranteed. You should have an alternative plan if the internet is not available when you are presenting. Alternatives - Equipment does fail and one should always have alternative means of doing a presentation. In case of problems the technical staff will try to help in whatever way possible. We will work to make your experiencepresenting at the conference as productive and least stressful as possible. If you have problem help is always available in the work room on the main conference hallway.

Contact the NSSA: Web: http://www.nssa.us/ Email: natsocsci@aol.com Phone: 619-448-4709 Mail: National Social Science Association 2020 Hills Lake Drive El Cajon, CA 92020