Four and Five Week Staff

Thad Blank - Assitant Coach, Whitman College, Carrollton School- An NDT semifinalist and CEDA finalist in 2003, Thad was also a three-time recipient of first-round at-large bids to the NDT. Thad has since continued his involvement in debate, as an assitant coach at both his alma mater, Whitman College, and the nationally recognized high school program of Carrolton. Having coached numerous elimination round participants at nearly every major college and high school national tournament, Thad joins our 4 Week staff for his first summer in East Lansing.

Ryan Burke - 2006 NDT Champion - Ryan is one half of MSU's top team this year and is easily one of the the best debaters in the country. He and his partner have finished in the top eight of every tournament of the season, including winning Georgia State, winning UT-Austin, winning the 60th Annual National Debate Tournament, and reaching the Finals of Wake Forest and Fullerton. Ryan has received multiple speaker awards this year and was awarded a First Round At Large Bid to the 2006 National Debate Tournament.

Joe Carver - Director of Debate, Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, FL -A former Pace University debater and Whitman College coach, Joe was an elims participant at every national tournament and a 1996 All American debater. . His teams have appeared in elims of the NDT and Greenhill, GDS, Glenbrooks, St Marks,MBA, Cal, Harvard and the Barkley Forum. He was the 2005 Val Browning coach of the year and is a current member of the board for the National Debate Coaches Association.

Scott Harris - Director of Debate at the University of Kansas - During the last fifteen years at the University of Kansas, Scott has coached numerous first round bid recipients and multiple NDT semi-finalists. He is widely respected as one of the most innovative argument coaches in college debate. Scott has led dozens of summer institute labs at the Michigan Classic and the Jayhawk Debate Institute. His creative debate mind and unparalleled passion for debate competition have earned him the reputation as one of the top institute instructors anywhere. In 2006, Scott's program won the NDT Varsity Sweepstakes and Scott was personally honored by the NDT with the George Ziegelmueller Award for coaching and teaching excellence. Scott will be returning to the 2007 SDI as a 4-week instructor.

Julie Hoehn -Emory University - Returning to the SDI for her second summer, Julie brings a fine resume of excellence in debate to our staff. After an accomplished high school career, including the semifinals of the TOC, her Sophomore season culminated in reaching the elimination rounds of the NDT. Julie's Junior year successes have included the elimination rounds of every major tournament of the season, and invitations to both the Kentucky and Dartmouth Round Robins. After she was one of our most well-reviewed staff members from 2006, we are pleased to welcome Julie back for 2007.

Tim Mahoney  - Debate Coach at the St. Marks School of Texas - Coach of the 2002 NFL National Champions and 2002 Tournament of Champion Finalists. As a college debater Tim advanced to the final round of 10 tournaments, winning seven of them. As a college coach his teams reached the elimination rounds at 9 consecutive CEDA National tournaments, and he qualified teams for the NDT every year after the merger. In his last year of college coaching, his top team was in the quarter finals of both the NDT and CEDA Nationals. Tim will be returning to work at the 4-week session of the 2007 SDI. He is also a senior instructor with the 5th week SDI Strategy Forum.

Gabe Murillo - 2006 NDT Semifinalist - Gabe is a Senior debater at Wayne State University, and one of the nation's finest debaters during the 2006-2007 season. 2005-2006 was a tremendous year, including a First Round at large invitiation to and a 3rd Place finish at the National Debate Tournament. 2006 has seen Gabe's successes continue, as he has been a top-5 sepaker at every tournament, and was the winner of the Kentucky Tournament. As a high school coach at Holland High School, Gabe helped coach a state championship team, and at Detroit Country Day has helped coached teams to the TOC, late elims of national tournaments, and to championships at multiple local tournaments. This is Gabe's 7th year at the SDI, and his first teaching in our 4-Week program.

Charles Olney - Dartmouth Debate Coach and 2003 NDT Top Speaker - Charles concluded a tremendous college career at Whitman College as the Top Speaker and Semifinalist of the 2003 National Debate Tournament and a Finalist at the 2003 CEDA National Championship. He was the recipient of three First Round At Large Bids to the NDT, including two top-five rankings. In 2004, Charles was an assistant coach at Michigan State where he was integral to our eventual national championship. This year he is coaching at Dartmouth College. Charles has previously taught at the Gonzaga Debate Institutes and the SDI, and returns to the SDI 4-Week for his third summer.

Varsha Ramakrishnan - Senior, Michigan State -

Will Repko - Head Coach at MSU - Will is the founder and co-director of the SDI. He joined Michigan State University's staff after coaching at East Lansing High School where his teams won several Michigan State Championships and the 1995 NCFL National Championship. Will's success has continued in his college coaching career where he has catapaulted Michigan State to an era of national prominence and excellence, including national championships in two of the last three years. Will was named the 2000 College Coach of the Year. He is an energetic, funny, strategically brilliant, and dedicated teacher - all that you should expect from a veteran lab leader. This summer, Will is leading a 4-week lab at the 2007 SDI. He is also a senior instructor with the 5th week SDI Strategy Forum.

Greta Stahl  - Director of Debate, MSU and 2004 NDT Champion - Greta is easily one of the best young coaches and instructors in the nation. In 2004 she was the Top Speaker at three tournaments and won tournaments at USC, Fullerton, and the Dartmouth Round Robin prior to the national championship. Greta was in the elimination rounds of both the NDT and CEDA Nationals four times, including Semifinals at each. She has taught at the Spartan Debate Institutes and the Capital Classic Debate Institutes. In June, she will earn her Masters Degree from Oxford University in England. She whe was the recipient of the Marshall Scholarship, one of the world's most prestigious scholarships for international study.

Dave Strauss - 2004 NDT Champion - Dave is currently an assistant coach at MSU and was part of one of the most successful two-person debate teams in history. As a sophomore, Dave and his partner became the youngest of only four teams to ever reach the "final four" of both CEDA and NDT in the same year. As a senior, he was part of the only team in the 58 year history of the National Debate Tournament to advance to the elimination rounds of the NDT four times as an intact pair. He won four tournaments in 2004, including the National Debate Tournament. Dave has a tremendous work ethic and one of the most strategic debate minds of his generation. He was essential to our 2006 NDT Championship.

Two and Three Week Staff

(check back soon for more updates)

Chris Burk - Director of Debate and Forensics at the University of Texas at Dallas, Director of Debate at the University of Texas at Dallas, one of the fastest rising programs in college debate. Chris coached over a dozen teams to the National Debate Tournament, including multiple First Round teams, as an assistant coach at Texas-Austin. As a college debater, he advanced to the elimination rounds of major tournaments, including the NDT. Last spring he judged the Final Round of the NDT. Chris pursued his graduate studies in International Politics at Texas-Austin and the Australian National University. He is an experienced instructor, previously working at the Texas-Austin and Stanford camps as well as the the International Debate Academy in Slovenia. He has taught more than 20 sessions of debate camp. Chris will be returning to the 2007 SDI as a 3-week lab leader.

Josh Gonzalez -Assistant Debate Coach at MSU - Josh joins the SDI staff this year for his twelth summer. As a high school coach, his teams won state championships, competed at the TOC, reached elimination rounds at numerous national and Michigan circuit tournaments, and placed in the semifinals or higher at the Michigan state tournament in six of the his last seven years. For the last two years, Josh has been an assistant coach at Michigan State, where he has helped lead the team to a string of top-five awards.

Aaron Hardy -Assitant Coach, Whitman College, 2004 NDT Semifinalist - After finishing a highly successful career at Michigan State with consecutive appearances in the semis and quarters of the NDT, Aaron has gone on to the coaching staff of Whitman College, where he is recognized as one of the most highly regarded young coaches in college debate. Leading Whitman's squad to a first-round at-large bid to the NDT and countless elimination round appearances at nearly every tournament of the year, Aaron has earned a reputation as one of the most hard working and dedicated coaches and lab leaders to be found. Aaron returns to the SDI this summer as a 3-week lab leader.

Paul Johnson - Assistant Coach at Wake Forest University - As a graduate assistant at Wake in 2006, Paul helped coach the Wake team to the NDT Finals. Sorry Paul, it was a 6-1 for MSU :-). As a debater at the University of Pittsburgh, Paul cleared or obtained a winning record at every major tournament. His senior year he was in the quarterfinals of the USC tournament and was the 14th speaker. Paul has previously overseen students at the summer debate institute at Catholic University, coached at the high school level for his alma mater MBA, and is returning for his fouth year of work at the SDI. Paul will be leading a lab at the 3-week session of the 2007 SDI.

Ruth Kay - Director of Debate at Detroit Country Day School - Ruth brings to SDI over 20 years of coaching experience along with competitive experience at the high school and college level. Ruth's teams have consistently been in the late elimination rounds of local and national tournaments along with qualifying for the TOC and winning the State Championship in Michigan. She has also served as a member and two-time chair of the National Topic Selection Wording Committee. Ruth will be leading a 2-week lab at the 2007 SDI.

John Lawson - Assistant Director of Debate at Groves High School - John directs the novice debate program at Groves High School in Birmingham, Michigan. He coached a National Catholic Forensic League Champion in 1998, five Class A Michigan Debate Champions and four Michigan Novice State Champions. His teams regularly reach late elimination rounds at major Michigan and regional invitationals. John has directed coaches seminars at the SDI, MNDI and the Michigan Classic. He debated in both high school and college, and now has 32 years of high school coaching experience, including teaching at the SDI and MNDI. John will be leading a two week lab at the 2007 SDI.

Tom Lietz - Director of Debate at Eisenhower High School - Tom has been the director of debate at Eisenhower HS for 9 years and a teacher at Eisenhower for the past 4.5 years. He has been highly successful within the state of Michigan, coaching a number of state finalists, at all levels, and his teams have had success on the national circuit as well. A former Wayne State Debater, Tom has NDT and high school experience as a debater. Tom's educational philosophy focuses around experiential learning that is engaging, enjoyable and informative. Tom will be leading a 2-week lab at the 2007 SDI.

Dana Randall -Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, FL- Dana is a former Whitman College debater and is currently the ADOD at Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart. She was an elimination round debater at multiple tournaments in her college career. As a lab leader, Dana has worked at Michigan National Debate Institute, Whitman National Debate Institute and the Impact Coalition. As a high school coach, Dana has had teams in eliminations at every major national tournament. She is also a former writer and researcher for West Coast Publishing. Dana will be leading a lab at the 3-week session of the 2007 SDI.

Phil Samuels - Assistant debate coach at the University of Kansas - Phil has taught at numerous debate camps in recent years, including the University of Kansas, Concordia College, The New York Urban Debate League, and the Arizona Debate Institute. Phil has also coached high school debate for the last four seasons. He debated at Emporia State University where he reached the out rounds of the NDT and was an octo-finalist at CEDA nationals. This is Phil's 3rd summer at the SDI. Phil will be leading a 3-week lab at the 2007 SDI.

Matt Schissler - Whitman College - Matt will be leading a 2-week lab at the 2007 SDI.

Sarah Topp - Graduate student, teaching assistant, and assistant debate coach at the University of Kansas - Sarah debated for four years at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, where she debated in elimination rounds at the NDT, CEDA, Kentucky, Northwestern, UMKC, William Jewell and many other tournaments. Sarah has worked with several high school programs in MN, as well as at the Concordia Debate Institute, the Jayhawk Debate Institute, and the Midwest Debate Camp. Sarah will be returning to the 2007 SDI as a 3-week lab leader.

Judy Walton - Director of Debate at Forest Hills Northern High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Judy has held that position since 2003. During her tenure, FHN has qualified for Novice State Finals all three years, reaching the final round in 2006. In addition, the FHN varsity team was a State quarterfinalist in 2004-05, and a State finalist in 2005-06. Judy will be returning to the 2007 SDI as a two-week lab instructor.