LD Debate Faculty

Lincoln Douglas Debate Faculty
2012 Staff Listings

PLEASE CONTINUE TO CHECK BACK HERE FOR UPDATES ON OUR 2012 STAFF.

Eric EMERSON is the Curriculum Director for the 2012 LD division at the UTNIF. As the Director of Debating at the Kinkaid School in Houston, Eric’s debaters have excelled at state and national competitions in both LD and CX debate.  His debaters have won numerous awards, reaching late elimination rounds at every major national tournament including the Tournament of Champions.  Eric is a tireless educator, notoriously dedicated to his students, and we are very happy to have him aboard!

Josh AGUILAR is the director of debate at McNeil High School in Round Rock and the former assistant LD coach for Churchill High School in San Antonio, where he coached the 2010 TFA State Champion and the 2010 5A UIL State Champion. Previously, Josh also was an assistant coach at Salado High School, where he worked diligently to help the team branch out to be competitive at national tournaments without sacrificing the program’s strong local roots. Josh’s students have reached elimination rounds at NFL Nationals, have won the UT-Austin Longhorn Classic and Colleyville tournament, and have earned TOC bids at Greenhill, St. Mark’s, Grapevine, and Lexington. When he was a student at Hays High School, Josh competed successfully himself in LD for four years in the Austin area, qualifying for TFA State, UIL State, and NFL Nationals. Despite limited opportunities to travel, Josh reached elimination rounds at Grapevine, Churchill, and the Longhorn Classic. He is a wonderful role model for local students who are beginning to travel outside their regions and has a great appreciation for the variety of styles currently present in LD. He previously has taught at the Texas Speech and Debate Camp and The Championship Group. He received his bachelor of arts in rhetoric and writing in 2009 from UT-Austin. This will be his fourth summer as an UTNIF lab instructor. He consistently receives the highest reviews from his UTNIF students for his patient teaching style, demonstrated dedication, engaging humor, and focus on inclusion for all students in debate.

Murvin AUZZENE  is the assistant debate coach at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory in Houston, Texas.
Since joining the program, he has helped build it into a nationally ranked squad.He has helped coach debaters who have cleared at every major tournament and won many of them. Additionally in 2008 he helped coach the NFL national champion in Lincoln Douglas.More recently, he helped coach the team to the first place sweepstakes trophy for Region IV at the 2012 TFA state tournament and the earning of more bids into the Tournament of Champions than any other school in the country in the 2011-12 season. Mr.Auzene is a graduate of Rice University with degrees in Political Science and History had
has been coaching debate for 13 years. He has been an instructor at the VBI institute and several local camps. His specialty is persuasion , rhetoric and narrative framing as elements of debate strategy.

Jana HARRISON  is in her eighth year as a coach and currently coached at Edmond North High School, in Oklahoma.  She has sent LDers to NFL Nationals for 7 out of the last 8 years, where her students have placed in the top 15.  Jana was named the 2011 West Oklahoma District Coach of the Year, and coached the current Oklahoma State Champion in LD as well as the 3rd place finisher.  Jana coaches a squad of 81 students, with 30% of those students placing in the top 3 for the 2011-2012 competitive season.

Ben CLANCY is a 2008 graduate of Westwood High School in the Austin area, where he competed in Lincoln-Douglas Debate both locally and nationally. As an LD debater, Ben qualified for the TFA State Championship three times, where he advanced to elimination rounds as a sophomore, junior, and senior. He also attended the Tournament of Champions his senior year after earning five bids at Greenhill, St. Mark’s, Emory, Victory Briefs, and Colleyville, which he won. Since graduating, he has been an assistant coach at Lake Travis and Westwood high schools, where he has helped students qualify for TFA State and advance into elimination rounds at tournaments such as Berkeley, Grapevine, Churchill, and the UT-Austin Longhorn Classic. Currently, Ben attends Trinity University in San Antonio where he is studying English and philosophy. Ben has previously served as a lab leader at the Victory Briefs Institute, and last summer, he judged for UTNIF during start-stop practice rounds, receiving praise from the students for his patience and educational feedback. He is now looking forward to a fun, debate-stuffed summer as an UTNIF lab leader.

Tyler COOK graduated from Salado High School in 2009, where he debated for four years. Tyler’s debate career was a model of versatility and a lesson in adaptation, having qualified for both UIL and TFA State each three times. He also advanced to elimination rounds at NFL Nationals twice and qualified to the Tournament of Champions as a senior, earning bids at Grapevine, Greenhill, St. Marks, Lexington, and the UT-Austin Longhorn Classic, which he won. In addition, Tyler was recognized with several round robin invitations, including those to Lexington, Victory Briefs, and Emory. Tyler’s competitive accomplishments speak to his ability to be successful in a range of situations, from the most technical to the most persuasion-oriented rounds, demonstrating his dedication to developing the variety of skill sets needed for any judge. With his meticulous preparation and close attention to case rhetoric and strategy, Tyler proved that a debater from the smallest school (Salado is in the 2A division for UIL) can experience the highest level of accomplishment with focus, practice, and openness to the diversity of regions. Since graduating, Tyler has coached students to qualify for the TOC and reach elimination rounds at several prestigious Texas tournaments, including TFA State, St. Mark’s, the Longhorn Classic, Grapevine, and Churchill. In addition to UTNIF, Tyler has served as the LD Director at the Texas Speech & Debate Camp. We are happy to have him as a lab instructor for a third summer to share with our students his appreciation and talent for debate across styles.

Pat DONOVAN competed in Lincoln-Douglas debate for Glenbrook North High School in Illinois. He qualified twice to the Tournament of Champions, where he was Top Speaker and a quarterfinalist his senior year. He also holds two National Debate Coaches Association championship titles. In addition to consistent success on the national circuit, Pat excelled locally, winning the 2009 Illinois state championship. This summer, he will join UTNIF as a guest instructor, teaching lectures during the first week of main session. Pat is an engineering student at the University of Texas at Austin and competes in policy debate. Pat is also an assistant debate coach at Northland Christian School in Houston. His students have qualified to the Tournament of Champions and have won numerous awards at major national tournaments, including championships at the Glenbrooks and the Victory Briefs Tournament.

David EMELIANOV graduated from the Westwood High School this year after 4 years of competitive LD debate under the direction of coaches Jeremy Martin and Ben Clancy. After three years of qualifying for the TFA State tournament, David advanced to the octofinals round his senior year. He also enjoyed wide success on his local circuit, consistently reaching elimination rounds and winning tournaments such as the St. Mary’s Hall, Stony Point, Jack C. Hays, and Cedar Ridge Classic. During his senior year, David cleared at every single tournament that he attended, with the exception of the Glenbrooks. He reached the bid round at the St. Marks and Greenhill tournaments, eventually earning his bid to the TOC at Cal Berkley.

Monica GHOSH studies in the Plan 2 Honors Program at the University of Texas  at Austin and will attend the University of Illinois College of Law in the fall.  Monica debated at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas.  She was a 3 time qualifier for TFA State, clearing to the octafinals her senior year. Monica was also a runner up in Lincoln Douglas at the UIL state tournament.   Throughout her career Monica won many tournaments  and speaker awards.  She won 4 local tournaments her senior year, earned top speaker honors a the Churchill Classic, and twice qualified for the Churchill Classic.  Monica has taught in the past at the debate workshop held by the Texas Debate Collective and is happy to be joining the teaching staff of the UTNIF.

Sam HAMAD debated for Winston Churchill and Katy Taylor high schools.  Sam placed 3rd at the TFA state tournament and won the 5A UIL state championship.  As a senior, Sam qualified for the Tournament of Champions and advanced to the 10th round of NFL nationals.  Sam is currently active as a coach and judge and will be attending Texas A & M University as a Sophomore in the fall.

Garner LANIER competed successfully all four years of high school in LD and policy debate at Bishop Kelley High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Garner advanced to LD elimination rounds at NFL Nationals in both his junior and senior years. He was highly accomplished in LD in Oklahoma: placing first at Districts, Regionals, and State his senior year and winning numerous local tournaments. He also traveled to Texas to compete at national tournaments, reaching LD elimination rounds at the UT-Austin Longhorn Classic and Grapevine. In addition, he placed in the top three of every local policy tournament he attended. Not only does Garner have experience as a debater but also with coaching. During his three years in Washington, where he attends the University of Puget Sound, he has coached several students at local tournaments to elimination rounds. He has a great deal of experience leading practice rounds and research sessions, training novices, and assisting more advanced students. In college, his focus of study is economics and philosophy. Garner is returning to our staff for his fourth summer as a lab instructor. In previous summers, students at UTNIF actively have sought out his help and support and have given him rave reviews for being approachable, knowledgeable, and always willing to make every effort necessary for their improvement.

Sabine WAKIM was a debater for 4 years at Stony Point High School in Round Rock, Texas.  Through hard work and perseverance, Sabine broke to elimination rounds at nearly every tournament she attended including TFA state and St. Mark’s. She received numerous speaker awards including the Buda Buddha award.  Sabine looks forward to her continued involvement in Lincoln Douglas debate as a teacher and coach.

Jared WOODS is a 2011 graduate from the Northland Christian School in the Houston area, where he has debated Lincoln-Douglas for four years. Jared has been highly successful on both the national and Texas circuits. He qualified to the TFA State tournament for three consecutive years, reaching elimination rounds each time with a quarterfinals finish as a senior. In addition, Jared qualified to the national Tournament of Champions for two consecutive years, earning seven career bids at tournaments such as Greenhill, St. Marks, Apple Valley, Victory Briefs, Berkeley, and the Glenbrooks. He has competed in elimination rounds at nearly every tournament he has attended as a senior, including Bronx Science, Grapevine, and Harvard. Moreover, Jared has enjoyed the privilege of competing in several prestigious round robins, including the Greenhill Round Robin in both his junior and senior years, the Bronx Round Robin, the Iowa Round Robin, the College Preparatory School Round Robin, and the inaugural Kandi King Round Robin. He brings to the UTNIF staff extensive competitive experience with the current trend of crossing over “policy debate” style arguments to LD. He also has much experience working with younger students on the Northland team on foundational skills. In addition to serving as a lab leader at UTNIF, Jared also will work at UNT’s Mean Green Workshops. He will be a freshman at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor this coming fall as a political science major.

Mirusha YOGARAJAH debated for four years for Stony Point High School where she qualified for TFA state 3 years in a row.  Throughout her career she cleared to elimination rounds at many prestigious tournaments including TFA State, Greenhill, Cal Berkeley, UT Austin, and the NFL National Tournament.  Mirusha currently coaches Stony Point High School.

*all staff listings are prospective pending final approval by the University of Texas at Austin