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Note!
- Need to renew your membership? Log in to the website or download a printable renewal form here.
- The 2013 Linguistic Institute has issued a call for course proposals, with a February 17 deadline.
Public Relations Committee
Background
Established in 2009.
Charge
To inform the public about the role of language and linguistics in society, placing particular emphasis on efforts to inform members of the news media, academia, and scientists.
Responsibilities
The work of the Committee includes, but is not limited to:
- Organizing educational programs (webinars, workshops, courses) for journalists.
- Maintaining a "Press Room"" on the LSA website, to include a roster of experts available for press interviews on different topics. Encourage these experts to write op-eds and other articles intended for a "lay" audience. Consult with the ED on placing these articles in "mainstream" publications.
- Collaborating with the Editors of Language, eLanguage, and the Chairs of the Program Committee to spotlight significant research of interest to those outside the linguistics community, as published/presented in the current issues and/or meeting. This should include garnering press coverage for the Annual Meeting.
- Consulting with the ED in preparing LSA news releases as appropriate.
- Maintaining the FAQ brochures and related content on the LSA website, identifying additional topics of interest where appropriate.
- Suggesting nominees for the Linguistics, Language and the Public Award to the awards committee.
- Coordinating efforts with the LiSC regarding educational programs and policies for primary and secondary school students and teachers.
- Coordinating outreach efforts with LSA liaisons and delegates to external organizations representing the academic and scientific communities.
- Monitoring websites and other publications for items relating to linguistics and language (for example, Facebook, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, LinguistList, LanguageLog, etc.)
- Consulting with the ED in seeking grants to support these activities, as appropriate.
Membership (open)
Ideally, the committee should include:
- Editors of Language and eLanguage
- Member of Program Committee
- Members with experience as journalists
- Members who write/speak for a popular audience
- Members who are quoted frequently by the news media
- One member of LiSC
Committee Members
- John Baugh, Chair, Washington University in St. Louis (2012)
- Greg Carlson, University of Rochester (2012)
- Hana Filip, University of Florida (2012)
- Shirley Brice Heath, Brown University (2012)
- Mark Liberman, University of Pennsylvania (2012)
- John McWhorter, Manhattan Institute (2012)
- Geoff Nunberg, University of California, Berkeley (2012)
- Dennis Preston, Oklahoma State University (2012)
- Dieter Stein, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf (2012)
- Deborah Tannen, Georgetown University (2012)
- Neal Whitman, Literal Minded Linguistics (2012)
- Walt Wolfram, North Carolina State University (2012)
