UTNIF

Click here to sign-up for an UTNIF 2019 program today!

Session 1 | June 30th – July 12th, 2019

Session 2 | July 19th – July 31st, 2019

Residential tuition is $2,000 (includes dorm stay & all meals); Commuter tuition is $1,765 (must live <35 mi. from UT)

The only difference between the two sessions are the dates – a camper should attend either Session 1 or 2, but not typically both.

WOW! Our UTNIF PF graduates have been busy! UTNIF Public Forum campers went on to win top speaker awards and/or to earn bids to the Tournament of Champions at competitions across the country, including: Grapevine HS (TX), Ridge (NJ) Princeton (NJ) Scarsdale (NJ) Villiger – St. Joseph’s (PA) Bellaire (TX) Myers Park (NC) Hockaday (TX) Glenbrooks (IL) Katy Taylor (TX) Apple Valley (MN) Winston Churchill (TX)

UTNIF Public Forum workshops are designed for students of all skill levels and they will be placed into the appropriate instructional group at the discretion of the curriculum director at the start of the program. Less experienced students will be introduced to the foundations of argument construction, presentation and speaking, tournament preparation, and in round strategy.  Students with more experience will finely hone debating skills and work with the unique structure of the PF activity to develop strategic approaches to victory. All students will give many practice speeches, have practice debates, rebuttal re-dos, and do stop/start skills drills. All students will participate in experience-appropriate discussions and background seminars on rotating PF topics. The goal is to train students to seamlessly incorporate sound argument and persuasion skills into competition rounds. Students will learn to how to incorporate evidence into their speeches without becoming dependent upon it. All students will receive

Students attending UTNIF camps must be at least 13 years of age to stay as residents in the dorm. Students who are not 13 may be able to attend as commuters, with prior permission from the camp director. the individualized instruction, encouragement, and resources they need to come away from the workshop much improved.

Note: Staff listings from 2018 and subject to change for 2019 sessions.

UTNIF Public Forum Curriculum Director 2016-2019

Our Public Forum Curriculum Director is Joseph Uhler of Westlake High School in Austin.  This is Joseph’s third year at Westlake and his students have already earned multiple Tournament of Champions bids in PF.  Joseph was previously the Director of Forensics at Anderson High School for over a decade.  His students at Anderson reached elimination rounds at TFA State, UIL State, NFL/NSDA Nationals, and the Tournament of Champions.  In 2010, Joseph’s students were in the final round of the Tournament of Champions in Extemporaneous Speaking.  In 2011, one of Joseph’s students won TFA State in Congressional Debate (House), and in 2015, one of Joseph’s students won TFA State in Original Oratory. One of his Public Forum teams was invited to the Harvard Round Robin.  Anderson consistently finished in the top five overall sweepstakes at the UT Longhorn Classic and finished in the top ten in overall sweepstakes at TFA State five times under his leadership.

Kirsten Nash is the director of forensics at Hendrickson High School in Pflugerville, Texas, where she has been coaching for 13 years. Under Kirsten’s leadership, the Hendrickson team has won 5 UIL State Championships, had a TFA State Champion Speaker in Policy Debate, and multiple state finalists and NSDA and TOC elimination round participants in PF, CX, Extemp, Congress, Oratory, DI and World School’s Debate. The team was awarded as a NSDA School of Honor in 2016. Nash has served as the President of the Texas Forensic Association and is currently the TFA Archivist and on the NSDA Heart of Texas District Committee.

Olivia Hardage competed in public forum debate at Westlake High School. Although Olivia only competed in debate her junior and senior years, she qualified for TFA State and advanced to the elimination rounds of Churchill within her first year. This year, Olivia serves as captain of the Westlake team, has qualified for TFA State, earned a bid to the Tournament of Champions, and broke at multiple national tournaments such as Churchill and The University of Texas. Olivia will be attending the University of Texas Austin next year and will be studying government.

Andy Stubbs is a debate consultant in the Houston area and works with the Houston Urban Debate League. He previously competed in cross-examination debate and advanced to the tenth round at NSDA Nationals twice in addition to receiving a speaker award there in 2007. Andy has coached PF teams into invites to the Stanford and Berkeley Round Robins.

 

John Mast is the Debate Coach at Stephen F. Austin High School in Austin, Texas.  He has coached students to the elimination rounds of the Tournament of Champions and TFA State.  He has had students qualify for NSDA Nationals in all of the debate events, including elimination rounds. His students have been in elimination rounds of major national tournaments including St. Marks and the Glenbrooks.  John’s students have been invited to multiple round robins across the United States.

 

Cale McCrary currently coaches Corona del Sol public forum debate in Arizona, and formerly served as the captain of Saint Mary’s Hall speech and debate in Texas. As a competitor, Cale was consistently ranked top 30 in the country for Public Forum, achieving late out rounds at national tournaments like Harvard and Grapevine. In his first year as a coach, Cale has had teams acquire multiple bids and qualify to the Tournament of Champions, notably with a win at the Golden Desert Tournament. Cale studies International Politics and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Utah Honors College.

 

Mukund Rao debated for Plano West where he served as the public forum captain his senior year. Throughout his career, he has qualified twice to TFA state and twice to the gold Tournament of Champions. In his junior year, he reached elimination rounds at Hockaday, Colleyville, and Harvard in addition to receiving bids at Grapevine and the University of Texas. In his senior year, he broke at nearly every tournament he attended, reaching octofinals at Glenbrooks and championing Grapevine and Hockaday. Outside of public forum, he has qualified to the TOC in extemp and reached elimination rounds at NSDA nationals in big questions debate. Mukund looks forward to teaching at UTNIF this summer!

Public Forum Curriculum Core Areas of Focus

1 – Core Expertise: Research, Flowing, and Speaking: Stylistic approaches and judge preferences vary by area. However, having superior evidence, addressing important arguments made by your opponents and your partner, and speaking better than your opponents are universal skills. Improving in these areas will immediately make you more successful. Each day debaters will participate in a series of drills designed to hone, improve, and advance their core debate skills. Students will also be provided with drill session handouts and notes for practice during the season and to share with teammates at home.

2 – Argument Development: Elements to Advanced Techniques: Debaters will learn and practic a variety of argument strategies. These approaches include components of an argument, analyzing and developing link chains, offensive vs. defensive arguments, logical fallacies, and weighing arguments.

3 – Case Construction – A Thematic Approach: Winning debaters begin with winning cases. Debaters will be exposed to and encouraged to try several different casing strategies. These strategies include using definitions and resolutional concepts to craft logically consistent cases.

4 – Speech-Specific Best Practices – A Formula for Success: Debaters should have specific goals for every speech in a Public Forum round. These goals include identifying and refuting your opponent’s key arguments as well as understanding and executing your team’s strategy. Debaters will participate in several practice rounds and drill sessions focused on maximizing the effectiveness of every rebuttal, summary, and final focus.

5 –Argument Integration – Using and Refuting Policy and Lincoln-Douglas Debate in Public Forum: Many times debaters cross-over from Policy or LD into Public Forum. This creates challenges for conventional Public Forum teams, especially if they are not exposed to or trained in dealing with the more technical aspects of their debating counter-parts. In addition to learning how to refute these positions, debaters will also learn how to package and present these same strategies in a manner appropriate for their area.