EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
David Frank is the Dean of the Robert D. Clark Honors College and oversees the University of Oregon’s Forensics program. Professor Frank is the author of three books and many articles on intercollegiate debate and individual events speaking. David has been coaching debate for over 20 years.
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Rob Layne is the Assistant Director of Forensics at Willamette University. In 2006, he was named by the American Forensics Association “New Coach of the Year.” Mr. Layne has coached several National Champions including 2009 NPDA National Top Speaker, 2006 NPDA Season Sweepstakes, 2006 NPDA Tournament Sweepstakes, and 2004 NPDA National Champions. Rob also directs some of the best camps and tournaments in the country including the National Parliamentary Debate Workshop, the International Tournament of Champions, the Jerry Hudson Invitational, and the regular season collegiate capstone Hatfield Debates.
CAMP COUNSELORS
The UO Debate team won 1st Place overall at the 2009 National Parliamentary Debate Association Tournament in March, up from their 2008 3rd Place finish – UO teams have been in the final round of the last two NPDA National Tournaments. The UO Debate team ended the 2008-2009 season occupying the #1, #14, #23, and #51 spots on the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence rankings – our #1 team set the record for NPTE points earned in a single season.
UO debaters Matt Gander & Hank Fields are currently ranked #1 in the country, following the UO tradition of excellence. Gander and Fields won the Pacific Northwest opener at Lewis & Clark College in October and reached semi-finals at the season opener in Liberty, Missouri in September.
Hailey Sheldon has been working at the ODI for the last four years, and is an ODI alumni herself (class of 2002). “I’m from Oregon, and the first institute I ever attended was the ODI – I fell in love with debate at the ODI and it never went away.” Hailey is a Marshfield High School graduate and a two-time Oregon state high school Policy Debate runner-up. She won the Bower Aly scholarship to Oregon in 2005, and thereafter debated Policy for Oregon her freshman year in college. When the Policy program at Oregon was removed from the budget, she began debating Parliamentary Debate for Oregon. She ended her debate career in March 2009, winning 2nd place at NPDA nationals. Hailey is now an assistant coach for the UO Debate & Speech team.
Benjamin Dodds debated for Ashland High School between 2000 and 2004, and won State in Policy in 2004 (his partner that year was an ODI alumni). He went to Gonzaga on a Policy debate scholarship after high school, and taught Policy at the Gonzaga Debate Institute. In 2006, Ben transferred to the UO, joined the Parli team, and won 6th place at NPTE nationals. He finished the 2007-2008 season ranked 9th in the nation, and runner-up at NPDA nationals. He capped off his career ranked #1 in the nation after winning 3 of the largest tournaments of the regular season and 3 separate first-place speaker awards (2008-2009). Ben says he owes the vast majority of this success to the time he spent “learning about debate all day long at summer debate institutes, and the ODI is one of the finest.” Ben is now an assistant coach for the UO Debate & Speech team.
Thomas Schally is the newest addition to the UO coaching staff, and comes to us from Western Kentucky University. He has earned a number of distinctive debate accomplishments in both Parliamentary and Lincoln-Douglas debate, including having been ranked 2nd in the nation for parliamentary debate for two consecutive years, earning 2nd speaker at the National Parliamentary Debate Association national tournament, 3rd speaker (twice) at the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence, finishing 5th at NPTE (twice), appearing in more than 25 career final rounds spanning both events, and never having the same partner.
Tom is a graduate student at the University of Oregon studying Public Policy and Socio-Political studies. His research interests include environmental policy, international relations, and critical theory.
MaryAnn Almeida completed her debate career at Willamette University in 2009, finishing the season ranked 4th in NPTE standings and earning top speaker at the NPDA championship tournament. She and her partner, Nick Robinson, placed 7th in the NPTE and advanced to quarterfinals at NPDA, in addition to a slate of other notable debate achievments including 2 first place finishes and 3 additional final round appearances this year. Individually, MaryAnn also received 14 speaker honors, including 3 first place awards. In high school, MaryAnn debated Lincoln Douglas in Spokane, Washington, where she twice qualified for NFL nationals (advancing to single eliminations and placing 14th her senior year).
MaryAnn will be moving to South Korea at the end of August to teach debate in an afterschool academy.
Matt Gander is entering his third year as a debater at the University of Oregon, and is one of our most promising debate talents. He was the Oregon high school state champion in Parliamentary debate in 2006 and the runner-up in 2007. In college, he qualified to the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence his freshmen and sophomore year ranked 64th and 14th respectively. in 2009, Matt and partner Hailey Sheldon finished second at the National Parliamentary Debate Association National Tournament where he was also the 11th speaker. Matt attended the Oregon Debate Institute twice in high school and considers them some of the most fun and educational times he has spent in the debate community.
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