Gerald M. Phillips Mentoring Award

The Board of Directors of the American Communication Association
has unanimously adopted a Resolution (VR 95-4) establishing the annual
Gerald M. Phillips Mentoring Award. Professor Phillips, who died on
April 26, 1995,  was an Honorary Fellow of the American Communication 
Association.

        The Award will be presented annually to an individual who
exemplifies Phillips' commitment to communication scholarship and the
ability to teach, guide, and unselfishly mentor others while simultaneously
instilling in them the singular ability to argue against the
received wisdom of the field, take seriously the ways in which
our scholarly activities inform and improve the world we share,
and create within them a genuine respect for democratic dialogue,
reasoned argument, a nicely turned phrase, elegant wit and ribald
humor, freedoms of expression and the expressions of those free-
doms, in sum, all the virtues and a few of the friendlier excesses
that homo loquens does possess.

        From a love of language, Professor Phillips held and
taught a true love for one's fellow inhabitants of this blue
planet and understood that his role as teacher/scholar also
included a responsibility to help open doors and, thereby, make
possible for others the kind of rich life that he lived for, and
by.  In his name we honor the habit of going out of one's way
for one's students, of helping them achieve their careers and
their dreams, and of marking the ritual passage from graduate
advisee to colleague as one of deep friendship, in which the
risks taken in scholarly challenge are never risks taken alone.
In addition, he served as a mentor to younger colleagues, some of
whom he knew only virtually, encouraging them to ask good questions
and to share their answers through publication to the larger
community of scholars.

        The Award, consisting of a plaque and a cash prize, has been
funded by an anonymous donor as an expression of lasting gratitude to
Professor Phillips and his example. The recipient of the first award
will be announced at the convention at Santa Fe in May 1995.

NB. Members of the QC-L have agreed to support this endowment as their 
contribution to the memory of Professor Phillips and in gratitude for his 
friendship and mentoring. Others are encouraged to do likewise.

Checks should be made to "University of Arkansas Foundation" with the 
"for" notation "ACA Phillips Mentoring Award" and sent to:

		Stephen Smith
		Department of Communication
		University of Arkansas
		Fayetteville, AR 72701