- PARTNERS AND PEOPLE
- EXECUTIVE CODIRECTORS
- KEY STAFF
- UNIVERSITY PARTNERS
- COMMUNITY PARTNERS
PARTNERS AND PEOPLE
.....To achieve the goals of the National Debate Project, an expansive network of committed individuals, foundations, and institutions is essential to bring the benefits of debate to thousands of youth across the nation.
.....Navigating this page, however, will only provide a glimpse of the dedicated individuals who support the work of the National Debate Project. While not listed by name here, hundreds of college students and K-12 teachers have given thousands of hours to ensure that effective programming reaches those most in need. They remain the heart of our project.
EXECUTIVE CO-DIRECTORS
Melissa Maxcy Wade
Wade is the Director of Forensics at Emory University, and is a faculty member in the Division of Educational Studies. She is the Executive Director of the Atlanta Urban Debate League and Director of the Emory National Debate Institute. She serves on the Academic Board of Directors of the International Debate Education Association and the Board of Directors of the National Public Policy Debate Forum.
As founder of the Urban Debate League in 1985 in Atlanta, Wade is nationally acknowledged as the country's premier expert on urban debate pedagogy. She has attracted more than $2 million of funding from groups such as the Open Society Institute, Phillips Petroleum and the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, making her the catalyst for a national urban debate league movement involving thousands of participants.
Wade has won every national coaching award in her field, has led Emory to 29 national intercollegiate debate titles, and is the author of over 200 debate-related publications. Wade is a political debate commentator for local, state, and national elections for various media, and has served on the National Associated Press Presidential Debate Evaluation Panel for every U.S. presidential election since 1976.
Jim Wade
Jim is the Director of Debate Across the Curriculum initiatives for the National Debate Project. A high school teacher certified in English, social studies, history, gifted education, and speech communications for 29 years, Jim is an instructor in the Department of Communications at Georgia State University. A nationally ranked high school debate coach, he was formerly an assistant debate coach at Emory University and the University of Tennessee. Director of teacher training for the Emory National Debate Institute for over 20 years, Jim has also served as a faculty member at national and urban debate institutes at NYU and American University Law Schools, Towson, Brown, Marquette, Miami, Vermont, New College, and the University of South Florida-Tampa.
His work in debate across the curriculum has been conducted in faculty trainings and institutes at Brown University, University of Miami, and for over 600 teachers and administrators in the metro Atlanta area. Internationally Jim has conducted debate across the curriculum trainings at the Korean Development Institute Graduate School for Public Policy and Business Management, as a visiting faculty in the Graduate Division of International Studies, Ewha University, Seoul, and for the Korean Debate Association at Kyung Hee University.
Author of a forthcoming textbook on Debate Across the Curriculum, Jim is currently pioneering evaluation and assessment of these instructional methodologies with pilot studies in four middle schools in Atlanta and Milwaukee.
Carol Winkler
Dr. Winkler is a Professor of Communication Studies and Associate Dean of Humanities at Georgia State University. She has served as Principal Investigator (PI) for the $1 million grant from the Einhorn Family Charitable Trust to set up the Milwaukee Debate League, as well as PI for federal grants from the Department of Justice to serve at-risk youth in Atlanta’s debate program.
Winkler is President of the American Forensics Association, the nation’s top academic debate organization, and is one of the primary architects of the Computer Assisted Debate Project. She has served on the Board of Trustees of the National Debate Tournament.
Winkler has authored five books and over forty articles on the topics of debate, political communication, and argumentation studies. She has received awards from the National Communication Association for her research, and an award from the International Communication Association for her effectiveness in teaching. Winkler received the 2003 Diva Award from Business to Business Magazine for her standing as one of Atlanta’s most effective female leaders.
KEY STAFF
NDP Consortium People (NDP Directors )
Larry Moss
Dr. Moss is a faculty member in Political Science at Clark Atlanta University, and the Executive Co-Director of the National Debate Project. He was a principal founder of the Urban Debate League in 1985, during his tenure as the Director of the Law and Government Magnet Program for Therrell High School in the Atlanta Public Schools. He has served as the National Training Director and Program Evaluator for the Open Society Institute, as well as consultant to numerous Urban Debate Leagues across the country. He has published numerous items on education and justice in the urban setting. Moss is widely considered one of the country's foremost experts in debate education and urban debate issues.
Moss has held positions at Howard University, Morris Brown College, Morehouse School of Medicine, Georgia State University, and Spelman College. He is a member of the Georgia Debate Coaches' Hall of Fame and is a National Forensics League Diamond Key Coach. He has served in various capacities on research grants for numerous foundations and universities.
Moss was the long-time Co-Director of Teacher Training for the Emory National Debate Institute, and served in similar capacities at the World Debate Institute at the University of Vermont, the Washington, D.C. UDL Institute at the American University College of Law, and the Southern California UDL Institute at the University of California, Fullerton.
NDP Personnel
Sheryl Gowen
Mr. Woods is a Professor at Tennessee State University, teaching pre-law courses and graduate classes in criminal justice, and was voted the Tennessee State University Teacher of the Year, 1997-1998. He has an extensive academic and professional publication record. He is also a senior partner at Woods & Woods Law firm, and was voted Best Lawyer in Nashville in the Nashville Scene poll. The federal court in Tennessee appointed him as lead counsel for the class action of all death sentenced inmates in Tennessee. He has received numerous honors including the Outstanding Defense Lawyer Award from the Federal Public Defender's Office and the Special Award of Merit from the National Association of Defense Lawyers.
Woods is a debate and political consulting expert. He advises, prepares and trains leaders and executives for television appearances and interviews. He coached Vice President Al Gore in his 1992 Vice Presidential television debates and coached Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen in his television debates in 2002. Woods has managed successful political campaigns for governor, U. S. Senate and Congress in Tennessee. He served as a senior strategist for the Bredesen Transition Team and as Chair of Governor Bredesen's TennCare Committee.
Woods is committed to helping young people today with debate training. As a former Emory debate coach, he has volunteered his time for 40 years to high school debate. He coached four high school debate teams to the National Forensics League National Tournament and coached a Tournament of Champions top speaker. His Nashville high school debate teams averaged more than 30 students a year, and the majority were young women and minorities at Hume Fogg, Martin Luther King, Overton, and Pearl-Cohn High Schools.
Maryann Dickar
Maryann Dickar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at The Steinhardt School of Education at New York University. She received her B.A. from Vassar College in American culture, her M.A. from SUNY Binghamton in U.S. History, and her doctorate in American Studies from the University of Minnesota.
She has served as the project director for the NYU-Community School District 10 Alternative Certification Initiative. Her research focus has been in middle and secondary schooling
Dr. Dikar served in the Open Society Institute's original pilot program for the NYUDL as the debate teacher from Erasmus High School. She coached many students successfully in both the UDL and traditional circuit tournament settings, and was a major advisor for the initial architecture of what has become the nation's largest UDL.
James Roland
James Roland is Director of Curriculum and Programs for the National Debate Project. He is Director of Community Partnerships and Assistant Director of Debate at Emory.
Roland directs the Computer Assisted Debate Division of the Emory National Debate Institute, has served as Director of the Debate Center at Georgia State University, has been an on-site faculty member and principal curriculum architect for the daily after-school Computer Assisted Debate pilot at Carson middle school, and has co-directed the summer debate institute for middle school children in metro-Atlanta at Pace Academy.
One of the nations most sought after faculty members, Roland has served at debate institutes at the University of Vermont, Gonzaga University, Towson University, the International Debate Education Association program at Catholic University, the American University College of Law, and the CITI program at NYU. He has served as one of the lead faculty for the founding institute training programs for the DCUDL, the Jamaican Debate League and the Miami Dade UDL.
Ed Lee
Ed Lee is the Director of Debate at Emory where he coached the 2007 NDT national intercollegiate debate champions. He has formerly served as Director of Debate at the University of Alabama where he coached nationally ranked debate teams to the elimination rounds of the Cross-Examination Debate Association National Tournament and the National Debate Tournament. He has received academic recognition for his scholarship and has received coaching awards from the University of Georgia, Georgia State University, and Vanderbilt University. He has been selected as the Southeastern United States ÒDebate Critic of the YearÓ an unprecedented five times. He has been a long time consultant for the development and assessment of the National Debate Project's initiatives.
A graduate of the Atlanta Urban Debate League, Mr. Lee is widely regarded as one of urban education's most eloquent voices. He moved from a position as Assistant Director of the Tuscaloosa Debate League to become Director of California's Bay Area Urban Debate League before being tapped to return to the University of Alabama as its head debate coach.
A highly sought national debate institute faculty member, he has served in programs at Emory, Berkeley, California State University-Fullerton, Miami University, University of Missouri-Kansas City, and Georgia State University, among others. He has served as one of the lead faculty for the founding institute training programs for the NYUDL, the Baltimore UDL, the Jamaican Debate League, and the Miami Dade UDL.
UNIVERITY PARTNERS
The National Debate Project works from the premise that university-based partners are key ingredients for sustaining successful debate leagues in socio-economically challenged communities. Universities provide a stable infrastructure which includes: (1) a steady stream of college students supervised by university faculty to assist with teacher training, tournament judging, and even coaching responsibilities; (2) a key source of institutional memory to help guide ongoing partnerships with local school boards and public school administrations; and (3) access to additional funding opportunities to help support and maintain league development.
A consortium of faculty and staff at Emory and Georgia State University govern the strategic planning of the National Debate Project. In each of the existing Urban Debate Leagues initially funded through NDP, a university partner anchors the program. For more on each of our partners, read below:
A top national research university, Emory is widely regarded as the educational progenitor of the national urban debate movement. Barkley Forum debaters and coaches have been involved in the creation of virtually every Urban Debate League. In the past seven years, Emory has guided the founding of fifteen Urban Debate Leagues in cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. As host of the first three Ideafest conferences for urban debate educators, Emory led the commitment to professional evaluation of the work of the movement.
• Founded in 1950, the Barkley Forum, Emory's debate society, is the nation's largest and one of its most historically successful competitive debate teams. Since 1995 alone, Emory debaters have won 27 national intercollegiate championship titles.
• During the last ten years alone, the 40-year-old Emory National Debate Institute has served thousands of high school and middle school students and hundreds of teachers from nearly every state in the U.S. The institute is unique nationally in that it has hired and trained more women and people of color than all other high school summer debate institutes combined. Further, the program emphasizes the addition of urban and rural secondary populations to the traditional suburban and private school participants to reach the goal of augmenting the conversation across the socio-economic divide.
• Emory hosts one of the largest, premier high school debate tournaments in the nation, drawing more than 1,500 students, teachers, and school administrators to campus each year. The tournament celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2005.
To learn more about Emory Debate, go to http://www.emory.edu/BF/endi/endi.html
An urban research university located in the heart of downtown Atlanta, Georgia State University is one of the most diverse college campuses in America, with a population that includes more than 45% minority students. Between five and ten percent of the student body each year comes from 145 countries outside of the United States.
• Georgia State 's Department of Communication has more faculty members with a background in debate than any other university in the Southeast. Serving more than one hundred and fifty students annually, GSU's M.A. and Ph.D. programs in Communication are a regional magnet for graduate students with an interest in debate pedagogy and service.
• Over the past five years, GSU debate pedagogy programs have trained hundreds of teachers from around the country and thousands of high school students from the greater Atlanta area. GSU is the only state university in Georgia to offer graduate and undergraduate internships in debate service and pedagogy. It also is the only state educational institution in Georgia to award continuing education credit for teachers advancing their professional development through debate.
• Georgia State is home to a growing, competitive debate team, including the first team to qualify for the National Debate Tournament who were both graduates of the UDL. The school runs the national season opener for intercollegiate debate competition and serves as the home of the southeast region’s district qualifying tournament for the National Debate Tournament. In June, 2003, Georgia State hosted the National Forensics League Tournament, the capstone national final for high school debate.
For more on Georgia State University debate, visit http://www.gsudebate.org
Located in the heart of downtown Milwaukee, Marquette University is a premier institution for academic scholarship and personal growth. Founded in 1880, Marquette has a rich tradition of intercollegiate debate competition. Housed in the J. William and Mary Diederich College of Communication, the Marquette Debate Center offers debate training and outreach to all surrounding high schools.
• Since 1979, Marquette has annually hosted the Milwaukee University Debate Institute, a summer workshop program that has served thousands of students throughout the United States.
• In 2006, Marquette University partnered with the National Debate Project to launch the Milwaukee Debate League (MDL). In its first year of operation, 204 students from eleven schools participated in the league. Eight schools were added in both year two and year three of the program.
For more on Marquette University debate, visit http://www.marquette.edu/comm/resources/mdl.html
NYU, a premier national research university, is host to one of the nation’s most innovative intercollegiate debate programs. While having won major national competitive titles, NYU debate has consistently worked to enfranchise local college participation for many under-funded college programs. Using support from top former debaters attending graduate and professional schools in NYC, the “Cartel,” as the collaboration was initially called, targeted women and people of color, both under-represented populations in college debate, for its programs with success.
• A long-time ally in the UDL movement, in 1996 NYU offered support and space for the earliest programs developing the UDL in New York City (NYUDL) in its law school. The faculty and staff of NYU debate now run the NYUDL, the nation’s largest UDL, serving over 1,000 at-risk students and their teachers.
• NYU, in collaboration with the Impact Coalition, hosts the CITI debate institute targeting UDL students from across the U.S. Many urban educators get their start at CITI, and follow-up programs for weekly support are institutionalized through several grant-funded programs. Innovative Debate Across the Curriculum programs and debate outreach to Riker’s Island Prison augment the experience of NYU faculty, undergraduate and graduate students in urban education.
For more on NYU debate, visit http://www.nyu.edu/clubs/ceda/about.html
For more on the Impact Coalition, visit http://www.impactcoalition.org/aboutus/abt_infmed_what.html
Tennessee State, one of the nation’s oldest historically African American institutions of higher education, features a strong academic program in criminal justice with top faculty. Research in innovative programs to foster conflict resolution and violence reduction in society, Tennessee State offers a strong academic, pedagogical and historical perspective to the work of the NDP.
• TSU has a strong history of forensics competition at the regional and national level, and is the new university partner, along with Vanderbilt University, in launching one of the newest UDL programs in Nashville in conjunction with the National Debate Project.
• TSU has faculty, staff, and alumni who have held significant administrative leadership and teaching roles in UDL programs in Atlanta, New York, and Seattle. All have contributed to UDL curriculum and teacher training initiatives. Most recently they have begun the Community Education Initiative, which will anchor the UDL in Nashville, TN.
Known for having the most internationally diverse intercollegiate policy debate team in the United States, Towson has fielded debate or forensics teams for more than forty years. They hold the distinction of having the first chapter of Pi Kappa Delta, the nation’s oldest honorary speech and debate fraternity, in the state of Maryland.
• In 2008, Towson fielded the first all-Urban Debate League Alumni team ever to win a national intercollegiate debate championship.
• Towson debaters mentor secondary school debaters in the Baltimore Urban Debate League, an entity begun in partnership with the Open Society Institute and Emory University more than a decade ago and which now continues as one of the most successful UDLs in the country.
For more on Towson debate, visit http://www.towson.edu/speechanddebate/pages/debateteam.html
The schools of the Atlanta University Center have a unique history and significance in the regional community, positioning it to be a natural center of advocacy and outreach for urban and rural students in Georgia . Many AUC institutions engage in the kind of educational and cultural research that serve to augment the success of debate pedagogy. At various times over the last fifteen years, Morehouse, Spelman, and Morris Brown have all been collaborative partners in UDL projects. As the most active school, Clark Atlanta was invited into formal partnership in the NDP in 2003.
• Clark Atlanta has a rich history of competitive intercollegiate forensics and debate, and has fielded many teams that have competed successfully in regional and national tournaments over the last twenty years.
• Clark 's ties to many high school UDL programs in Atlanta have brought it into the conversation concerning the future of debate outreach in Georgia . Clark faculty directs many aspects of the Debate Center , and serves as facilitators for engaging AUC students, who represent a reservoir of high-quality teachers and mentors for various NDP programs.
Awards and Recognition
*Joe Bellon, the Georgia State coach, was awarded 2003 Outstanding Debate Coach for the Southeastern Region of the United States
*Georgia State placed 29th in the United States in the Fall 2005 National Debate Tournament rankings out of 118 debate teams, placing it in the top 25% of teams overal
*Georgia State placed 4th out of all teams in District VI, which represents the southeastern United States
*Georgia State’s team rankings places the team against notable programs, such as Harvard, New York University, Wake Forest University, Florida State, University of Florida, University of Kentucky, and the University of Alabama.
*Georgia State holds the historical distinction of the qualifying the first all- Urban Debate League Team for the National Debate Tournament (the equivalent of the NCAA tournament for debate
COMMUNITY PARTNERS
Atlanta Housing Authority
The Atlanta Housing Authority is organized under Georgia law to develop, acquire, lease and operate affordable housing for low-income families. AHA is the largest housing agency in Georgia and one of the largest in the nation, serving approximately 50,000 people. It has forged unprecedented partnerships with both the public and the private sector in order to build whole communities that provide the educational and employment opportunities families need to survive. AHA has contributed to the Computer Assisted Debate project by targeting two of its communities (Bowen Homes and Hollywood Court Apartments) for participation in the pilot project, due to high numbers of middle-school age residents. AHA is working to develop a business plan for implementing the Computer Assisted Debate Project to 1500 middle school children living in AHA communities.
Atlanta Public Schools
APS has an active enrollment of 51,000 students attending a total of 85 schools: 59 elementary (K-5), three of which operate on a year-round calendar; 16 middle (6-8); 10 high (9-12), and 7 charter schools. The school system also supports two alternative schools for middle and/or high school students, two community schools, and an adult learning center. The Atlanta Public Schools were original partners in the Urban Debate League in Atlanta in 1985. They have supported debate through teacher stipends, a tournament travel budget, transportation for the middle school debate program and Computer Assisted Debate project, use of their school facilities to house NDP projects, assistance with acquiring needed assessment data, and other forms of program support.
The Boys and Girls Clubs of Atlanta
The Boys & Girls Club of Metro-Atlanta strives to enhance the lives of at-risk young people through safe, productive after school programs. Last year, Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta served more than 30,000 young people through its Clubs, summer sites, and outreach programs. The organization has installed a computer lab at Carson , the middle school hosting the Computer Assisted Debate Project, and has provided substantial financial support for the project. Boys & Girls Club has also provided after school homework support for the CAD project through their academic Power Hour program. They also seek to expand debate curricular units in their Clubs across the Atlanta area
The Glenn Pelham Memorial Fund
The Glenn Pelham Memorial Fund, a non-profit organization, originally founded by alumni of the Barkley Forum, is the most successful non-profit organization targeting debate outreach in the nation. Since 1990, the Pelham Fund has attracted and dispersed more than two million dollars in grant money to support debate-oriented programs for underserved urban and rural students. This includes major grants from organizations such as Phillips Petroleum, the Open Society Institute, and the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, among many others. As the first nonprofit organization to focus on urban debate, the Pelham Fund has been one of the major economic players in the national UDL movement. Starting with twenty students from at-risk Atlanta communities participating in its programs, UDLs now serve over 5,000 students and teachers annually. The Pelham Fund is a pivotal entity supporting training for those students. In the past eight years alone, more than 700 high school students, middle school students, and teachers have received scholarships to summer debate institutes as a result of the work done by the Pelham Fund. That represents well over half a million dollars in direct educational benefits to students.
Techbridge
TechBridge is an Atlanta-based non-profit organization that helps other nonprofits use technology to better serve the community. TechBridge provides professional, affordable technology consulting services, innovative technology solutions and access to the financial, technical and human resources nonprofits need to be successful with technology. TechBridge has worked with the Computer Assisted Debate project team to construct and launch a program website. It also provides a conduit to the business community to help locate interested individuals wishing to act as coaches or judges for the tournament and community debate activities.
Pace Academy
Pace Academy is one of Atlanta ’s premiere private schools for elementary, middle school, and high school students. Every other year, Pace hosts the Fuqua National UDL tournament that funds high school teams from each of the fifteen Urban Debate Leagues to arrive in Atlanta and compete for a national championship. Pace also hosts two summer sessions of the Middle School division of the Emory National Debate Institute, which provides access to all students wanting to learn debate fundamentals.
