About ACA

The American Communication Association (ACA) was founded in 1993 for the purposes of (a) fostering scholarship in all areas of human communication behavior, (b) promoting excellence in the pedagogy of communication, (c) providing a voice in communication law and policy, and (d) providing evaluation and certification services for academic programs in communication study.

The ACA is a not-for-profit virtual professional association with actual presence in the world of communication scholars and practitioners.  ACA is committed to enabling the effective use of new and evolving communication technologies to facilitate instruction, research, and criticism; it offers a technologically-supportive venue for all who study the ways in which humans communicate.  While the Association is geographically based in the United States, it is an organization that welcomes participation from academics and professionals throughout the world.  Please feel free to join in on the discussion.

ACA Conventionees listening to a keynote panel in the morning
at the Sheraton Hotel in Lima, Peru on August 3, 2006.

Membership in the ACA is free, and can be established by simply subscribing to the Americancomm discussion group hosted on Yahoo.  That's all there is to it!  Since we are a completely online organization, there are no dues.  As a member of ACA, you become part of the ongoing conversation that makes this organization what it truly is -- a virtual community of people concerned about communication.  Of course, the Association welcomes and encourages gifts of money, resources, or time and energy in fulfilling our mission.

ACA publishes a scholarly journal, as well.  The American Communication Journal is the premier online scholarly refereed journal dedicated to the study of communication.  Please take some time and read some of the interesting articles, essays, and book reviews published with the intention of making communication scholarship discernible to the general audience.  We think you will like what we have put together for you!

The American Communication Association Accrediting Committee (ACAAC) has examined the accreditation documents from a variety of respected and prestigious organizations in the construction of our procedures.  Among those reputable organizations are the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA), the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST), the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM), the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges (SACS), and the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC).  The ACA provides accreditation to Certificate Programs, Associates Degree Programs, Diploma Programs, and Baccalaureate Programs, but not graduate programs at this time.  The following criteria and procedures aspire to the same high goals and standards of these organizations.  Please see our page on ACA Accreditation Services for additional information.

ACA operates under ACA's Rules of Order to uphold and enact the ACA By-laws of the Association.  The ACA Board of Directors is the executive body governing the activities of the Association, and is chartered to enact the mission of the organization.  Officers of the organization generally serve yearly terms, with the exception of our Executive Director and ACJ editor who serve three-year terms.

Be part of something truly great!  Consider all that the ACA has to offer, and move boldy into the future of communication scholarship and practice.