Editor’s introduction: Communication Teacher’s impact as a journal of applied and translational scholarship

As I publish my final issue of Communication Teacher, I would like to express the honor it has been to curate this journal during the past several years. I have always aspired to edit a National Communication Association (NCA) journal—specifically this journal. As a critical communication pedagogy (CCP) scholar who is focused on praxis, Communication Teacher has been an important outlet for my own scholarship because it has allowed me to articulate how CCP can be applied in the classroom to work toward societal change. My role as editor has helped me to recognize further the unique space that Communication Teacher occupies in NCA’s journal offerings Specifically, Communication Teacher fills an important gap in the extant scholarship. Communication Teacher allows communication instructors to improve pedagogical practice through the publication of original teaching activities that can be directly implemented in the classroom and through its educational assessment articles that can be used to modify and improve instruction. Thus, one strength of the journal is its applied pedagogical focus. During my time as editor, I have been provided with a unique vantage point from which I have been able to view the myriad ways in which communication scholars, instructors, and practitioners utilize the journal. My term has allowed me numerous opportunities to interact with the readers of Communication Teacher, which has helped me to better understand how readers use the journal and the impact that the journal has on their pedagogical experiences. It is these interactions that made me better recognize the journal’s second major strength. While attending NCA, International Communication Assocation (ICA), and regional communication conferences, I have spoken to many instructors about the journal. Specifically, I have spoken at NCA division meetings, NCA editor presentations, and on conference panels and workshops at ICA and regional conferences about the journal, its aims and scope, and strategies to publish in the journal successfully. These conversations made me more fully aware of the positive effect that Communication Teacher has on so many instructors and taught me a great deal about the ways in which readers use it. A multitude of conference attendees have communicated to me that Communication Teacher is the primary journal they read. Also, many faculty, whose primary focus is teaching, have indicated that they require scholarship that provides succinct, applicable ways to improve their pedagogy. Thus, for many readers, Communication Teacher does what scholarship needs to accomplish. These conversations also helped me to recognize the second