2020 Award Announcement and Naming

The Association for Communication Administration delayed the 2020 Administrator of the Year Award due to the pandemic. The ACA has decided to confer the award posthumously to Dr. Shawn Long and to rename the award in his honor. Dr. Long was an active member of ACA, serving as its president from 2016-2017, and played a vital role in rejuvenating the organization. His outstanding ability to bring people together fostered strong partnerships between the ACA and multiple professional organizations. He was a generous leader, actively welcoming new members of the organization and readily sharing his power and wisdom.

During his career, Dr. Long held multiple leadership positions in universities and associations, serving both particular places and regional and national associations. His most recent position as the Dean of the Humanities and Social Sciences at Kennesaw State University (2019-2020) followed multiple positions held at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, starting with Assistant Professor (2000-2007), Director of the Communication Studies Graduate Program (2007-2010), Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (2016-2018), finally, to Senior Associate Dean for Academic Personnel and Budgeting (2018-2019). The steady and quick progression speaks highly of his value at both universities. Alongside his university leadership positions, Dr. Long held multiple disciplinary leadership positions. In addition to his service to the ACA, he served the Southern States Communication Association as Second Vice-President (2018-2019) and Vice-President (2019-2020). At the time of his death, Dr. Long was President of SSCA. With this award, we honor the outstanding work Dr. Long did to help build and administer both university units and disciplinary associations.