James C. McCroskey was one of the most well-known scholars in the communication discipline. He began his career teaching high school speech and debate in South Dakota and went on to receive an M.A. in Speech from the University of South Dakota and his D.Ed. from the Department of Speech Communication at Pennsylvania State University. His 50+ year career in higher education included faculty and administrative positions at Illinois State University, Michigan State University, Pennsylvania State University, Old Dominion University, the University of Hawaii, West Virginia University, and the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Jim was trained as a rhetorician but also appreciated the value of a social scientific approach to understanding communication, and he developed the tools and skills needed to use this approach.
This special issue of Communication Education commemorates the 100th anniversary of the National Communication Association and is dedicated to the memory and legacy of James C. McCroskey. The lead article reviews major contributions he made to the discipline, as well as the long reach of his mentorship. Jim was a brilliant scholar who could see through the haze of vague and abstract constructs to identify key issues that impacted communication and relationships. He loved to argue his point, and he loved to engage people. He was the consummate mentor both to his students and to his colleagues and had an uncanny ability to understand what a person needed in their scholarly pursuits and the ability to help them acquire it.
Jim's scholarship spanned rhetoric, interpersonal, intercultural, and organizational communication, although he is probably best known for his work in instructional communication. He played a central role in the development of instructional communication through his research, his mentoring of future scholars, and his constant support of instructional groups at regional, national, and international associations. The impact of Jim's scholarship is evident throughout this special issue, with his work and that of his students' cited frequently. There is little doubt that his scholarship will continue to influence instructional and communication education scholarship in the next 100 years.