Communication club finds niche

Designed for all communication students regardless of emphasis, the National Communication Association Student Club, also known as NCAS, is a newer club that planted its roots last spring.

Currently run by academic adviser Gae Robinson, the purpose of the club is to help students within this field make connections, promote service in the community and help communication majors understand the opportunities in graduate school.

“NCAS is meant to provide service and scholarship opportunities for students, not excluding, but including public relations students and other communication majors,” said Janet Colvin, communication department chair and co-founder of the club.

One of the main reasons for NCAS was to allow communication students to feel that they had a place to go.

“Public relations have a club, journalism has the newspaper – there needed to be a place for other communication students,” said Nancy Tobler, communication professor and one of the founders of the UVU chapter of NCAS.

Tobler said that many of the events they held last year featured communication students from UVU who had continued on to graduate school. The club also invited a current graduate school attendee, Jennie Nicholls-Smith, to talk about her experience at the communication communication program at the University of Utah.

“What makes you stand out to graduate schools are extracurricular activities. It also gives you a great leadership opportunity,” Tobler said.

Daniel Diaz, NCAS president and chief justice of the UVUSA, found his leadership niche within the the club, as well.

“I chose to be in the presidency because I wanted to be more involved with the communication department,” Diaz said. “NCAS gave me a chance to be more involved with my major. It also allows me to do things I enjoy which are leadership and event planning.”

Due to the fact that NCAS is a part of a national chapter, membership costs $20 for a student to join.

“We set the price at a reasonable level. When you compare it to other fees around the country, it’s cheap. The fee allows us to run the basic organization and pays for our national affiliation fees,” Colvin said.

The club’s first event of the year will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 3 in the Sorensen Student Center in room 206A at 7:00 p.m. It will be a panel consisting of communication professors and students discussing dating and relationships, titled, “Love Advice for Couples and Singles.”

For more information on NCAS, contact Gae Robinson in the communication department office.