Kansas Professional Communicators (KPC) needs YOU! There are several KPC officer positions open, and they are:
- President
- 1st Vice President for Membership
- 2nd Vice President for Bylaws
- Secretary
- Treasurer
The KPC executive board is required to meet four times a year, and for the past five years, the board has used Zoom for videoconference meetings three times a year with a face-to-face meeting the night before the annual KPC spring conference. The length of term would be two years, and the term would start at the conclusion of the 2020 spring conference, when nominations are presented, and officers are elected. Elected officers who are WPC members must also have membership with KPC and NFPW.
This is a great opportunity to serve in a leadership role as a professional communicator. There are also other opportunities to serve with KPC if you would like to assist with the annual communications contest and website/newsletter. If you are interested in a KPC leadership role, contact nominating committee members Gwen Larson at gazettegl@yahoo.com, Wilma Moore-Black at wilma.black@wichita.edu, or Darcy Gray at dgray5@kumc.edu.
Giving back
At what point does your membership in an organization turn to a commitment to give back? For Gwen Larson of Americus, Kansas, giving back to Kansas Professional Communicators began shortly after joining the organization in 2004.
“I attended my first national conference that year and remember the Kansas and Wichita delegates finding me and taking away that ‘new kid on the block’ feeling,” Larson said. “By the time I flew back to Kansas, I’d agreed to be the Communicator of Achievement chair, an appointed office on the KPC board.”
Now, 15 years later, Larson is running for president of National Federation of Press Women at the 2019 national conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at the end of June.
“At a time when many believe respecting and defending the First Amendment only applies when what is being said via speech and the press aligns with their own views, it is time for NFPW to step forward and continue the work begun by our founders to protect freedom of the press,” said Larson about why she chose to run.
If elected, Larson would be the fourth Kansan to serve as NFPW president behind Marie Abels (1945-47), Helen Ankeny (1953-55) and Vivien Sadowski (1999-2001).
Larson said her involvement in KPC propelled her to become more involved at the national level and run for election. A former president of KPC, she currently serves as KPC first vice president for membership and NFPW vice president.
“The federation is only as strong as its affiliates and chapters,” she said. “Wichita Professional Communicators is the last chapter left in Kansas, and I’ve been impressed with the monthly programs and the value offered to members. I just wish I could take a day off work each month to attend all the meetings.”
Larson encourages those who enjoy the programs and other values of membership to consider taking leadership positions. She is serving on the KPC nominating committee with WPC’s Darcy Gray and Wilma Moore-Black.
“I know there are leaders in both WPC and KPC with great ideas to strengthen both organizations as well as NFPW,” Larson said. “I hope they will step up and help us move forward.”