Instructors

ISDA Featured Lecturers

Dave Arnett

Dave Arnett is the Director of Debate at the University of Kentucky. Before arriving at Kentucky in 2010, Dave was the Director of Debate at UC Berkeley for twelve years. On 23 occasions, his teams have been ranked in the top 16 (US), including 12 top five teams, and 4 overall number one rankings. He has coached two national championship teams as well as two runners-up. Dave was selected the National Coach of the Year on two separate occasions (2009, 2015). His program hosts the prestigious JW Patterson Tournament of Champions which includes a network of over 100 qualifying events serving tens of thousands of students annually. Dave has been involved in international outreach for nearly a decade working extensively throughout Asia and Latin America promoting speech and debate.

Dr. Mikaela Malsin

Dr. Mikaela Malsin is the Director of Debate at Emory University and an alumna of the Emory Debate Program. She earned her Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Georgia, her M.A. from Wake Forest University, and her B.A. from Emory. Before returning to lead the Barkley Forum, she directed the Georgetown Debate Team and held coaching roles at Wake Forest, Georgia, and Emory. A nationally recognized coach and judge, Mikaela has guided numerous partnerships to First Round At-Large Bids and deep elimination rounds at the National Debate Tournament, including the 2018 NDT finalist team from Georgetown. Beyond her competitive success, she is a leader in shaping national debate education—emphasizing clarity, accessibility, and rigorous argumentation—and has helped expand outreach and training opportunities for students across all levels of debate.

Dr. Marcel Roman

Dr. Marcel Roman is an Assistant Professor of Government at Harvard University, specializing in racial and ethnic politics in the United States with a focus on Latinx political behavior, immigration, and policing. His current book project draws on several representative Latinx surveys to demonstrate how contemporary immigration enforcement undermines political assimilation across multiple dimensions within Latinx communities. A first-generation college student, Marcel attended the University of Kentucky on a full debate scholarship, where he was a four-time qualifier for the National Debate Tournament, ranked among the top 25 debaters nationally each year, and was part of the first all-freshmen team from Kentucky to reach the NDT elimination rounds. He later earned his Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Glen Frappier, M.S.

Glen Frappier is the Director of Debate at Gonzaga University. Under his leadership, the Gonzaga Debate Team has earned a wide range of national and international honors. He joined Gonzaga in 1998 following a career as a competitor and coach at Southern Illinois University. Within the Communication Studies Department, he teaches courses in argumentation, debate, persuasion, and nonverbal communication, and he also applies this expertise professionally through work in jury consulting and trial communication. Prior to his academic career, Glen served as a Communications Specialist in the United States Army.

ISDA Instructors

Dr. Mikaela Malsin

Dr. Mikaela Malsin is the Director of Debate at Emory University and an alumna of the Emory Debate Program. She earned her Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Georgia, her M.A. from Wake Forest University, and her B.A. from Emory. Before returning to lead the Barkley Forum, she directed the Georgetown Debate Team and held coaching roles at Wake Forest, Georgia, and Emory. A nationally recognized coach and judge, Mikaela has guided numerous partnerships to First Round At-Large Bids and deep elimination rounds at the National Debate Tournament, including the 2018 NDT finalist team from Georgetown. Beyond her competitive success, she is a leader in shaping national debate education—emphasizing clarity, accessibility, and rigorous argumentation—and has helped expand outreach and training opportunities for students across all levels of debate.

Dr. Ray Celeste Tanner

Dr. Ray Celeste Tanner is a scholar, educator, and communication professional specializing in organizational communication, persuasion, and public speaking. Ray Celeste holds a PhD in Organizational Communication and brings more than a decade of experience teaching argumentation, debate, and persuasive communication to students at the secondary, collegiate, and professional levels.

Ray Celeste has extensive experience in competitive speech and debate education. She has taught at Harvard Debate Council's Summer Workshop and Georgetown Debate's Summer Debate Institute and has also taught hundreds of college students through courses at Wake Forest University and the University of Kentucky.

Gabriel Lewis, MPS

Gabriel Lewis, M.P.S., is the International Outreach Coordinator for Speech and Debate at the University of Kentucky. In this role, he also serves as a Project Manager for the International Speech & Debate Initiative (ISDI), a joint effort between the TOC and the Harvard Debate Council to expand global access to speech and debate. Previously, he was the Associate Director of Debate at Georgetown University, where he coached teams to national speaker awards, major tournament successes, and Round Robin invitations. He holds a master’s in project management from Georgetown University and, as a former competitor, reached the elimination rounds of the National Debate Tournament.

Sarah Lundeen

Sarah Lundeen is a two time CEDA National Champion and Semi Finalist at the National Debate Tournament (NDT). As a coach her teams have been among the most talented and successful in the nation. She is the former Assistant Director of debate at the University of West Georgia. She has coached high school and college debate for over 20 years, qualifying teams consistently to the high school Tournament of Champions and college National Debate Tournament and CEDA Nationals. She has extensive experience coaching all styles of arguments and was named one of the top ten college judges of 2000 – 2010. Her previous teaching experience includes at Gonzaga, Stanford, UC-Berkeley, Northwestern, and Texas.

Kevin Hamrick

Kevin Hamrick is a debate coach and US Government teacher at Montgomery Bell Academy. His teams at MBA have dominated the national circuit, winning countless top speaker awards and tournaments. His teams have even won the prestigious Tournament of Champions. Kevin also directs and administers one of the most prestigious high school tournaments. Prior to coaching at Montgomery Bell, Kevin coached at Northwestern University, where he coached multiple national champions in collegiate debate.