Meet the Coaches

Melissa Maxcy Wade, M.A., M.T.S., Th.M., Executive Director of Forensics. Since 1972 Wade has overseen the growth of one of the most dynamic intercollegiate debate and education programs in the U.S. A faculty member in the Division of Educational Studies, Wade is a principle founder of the Urban Debate League, a national education movement targeting secondary students from socio-economically challenged schools in more than 20 major U.S. cities. She has coached Emory to over thirty national college championships, and has received every major college coaching and service award in her field. She has worked with international debate outreach in South Korea, Jamaica, and Columbia, and has been a visiting faculty member in the graduate division of international studies at Ewha University in Seoul. Wade is the Executive Co-director of the National Debate Project, Director of the Emory National Debate Institute, and is one of only 3 university debate coaches in the U.S. who has served on the National Associated Press Presidential Debate Evaluation Panel for every U.S. Presidential election since 1976.

At the 2008 National Association of Urban Debate Leagues (NAUDL) Tournament, Melissa received the first award for contributions to Urban Debate. At that event, she was "honored" with a roast by Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report. Click on the image below to watch!

Bill Newnam, M.A., Associate Director of Forensics. Formerly a coach at Wake Forest, since 1982 Newnam has been a nationally prominent intercollegiate debate coach at Emory, joining Wade in coaching multiple national champions. He has won the Ovid L. Davis Award for coaching the 2000 NDT Champions, the National Coach of the Year Award, and the Lucy Keele Award for national service to forensics. Newnam is a debate policy expert, having co-authored a three volume text on academic debate, along with several articles and national convention papers on best practices and trends in tournament competition. He is the administrative director of the National Debate Project Debate Center at Georgia State University, an Atlanta Urban Debate League program serving hundreds of students and teachers annually. He is also a state and national media commentator on political debates.

Ed Lee, M.A., Director of Debate. Formerly Director of Debate and Department of Communications faculty at the University of Alabama, Lee has coached debate at Emory University since 2004. Widely considered one of the most innovative argument coaches in the nation, Lee won the Ovid L. Davis award as coach of the 2007 NDT champions. A highly preferred judge/critic, he has received the southeastern U.S. Critic of the Year Award an unprecedented five times. A former Director of San Francisco's Bay Area Urban Debate League, he works in various Urban Debate League programs in Atlanta. He has served on the NDT Committee, the CEDA topic committee, and has frequently participated in policy making at the National Communications Association academic conferences. A top national forensics institute faculty, Lee has worked at Michigan, Miami-Ohio, NYU, UMKC, Miami, and the inaugural faculty of the Jamaican Debate League. He has judged the finals of the National Debate Tournament twice and the finals of the Cross-Examination Debate Association National Tournament three times.

David Heidt, B.A., Director of Debate Programs and Debate Coach. A 1996 Emory NDT winner, he has coached at Emory for over a decade, leading Emory to the final round of the NDT and CEDA nationals eight times, and to the top three in the Copeland Award race five times. One of the most preferred judges/critics in the nation, Heidt has frequently judged the final round of both the NDT and CEDA Nationals and has won the southeastern U.S. Critic of the Year Award on multiple occasions. He is also one of the nation's top debate instructors, having served on national institute faculties at Michigan, Michigan State, Catholic, UMKC, and with the Westminster Schools, which has won virtually every major secondary school tournament. He serves on the National Debate Coaches Association institute evidence project, and is one of the nation's top researchers. Heidt was a major architect of the National Debate Project Debate Center in 1998 and has worked with Urban Debate League students from New York, Baltimore, Kansas City, Washington, D.C., Detroit, San Francisco, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Miami, and Milwaukee in various instructional settings.

James Roland, M.A. (in progress), Director of Community Debate Programs and Debate Coach. Former nationally ranked debater and assistant debate coach at Southern Illinois, Roland has been coaching and directing community programs at Emory since 2000. Director of Programs for the National Debate Project, Roland is one of the nation's foremost experts on the role of debate in urban education. He directs the Computer Assisted Debate Program, directs the National Debate Project Debate Center at Georgia State University, and has been a debate advisor to the U.S. State Department, Atlanta Housing Authority, Open Society Institute, and Urban Debate Leagues in Miami, Milwaukee, Memphis, Washington, D.C., New York, Nashville, Baltimore, and Jamaica. He has received recognition from the Atlanta Public Schools, Miami Dade Schools, the White House Helping America's Youth initiative, and earned an Emory Award of Distinction. One of the nations most sought after faculty members, Roland has served at debate institutes at Vermont, NYU, Gonzaga, Towson, Catholic, Miami, Emory, and the American University College of Law.

James Herndon, M.A., Senior Program Associate and Debate Coach. A nationally ranked intercollegiate debater at Mercer, Herndon was an assistant debate coach at the University of Alabama prior to his extraordinary tenure as one of the nation's top secondary school coaches at Chattahoochee in Atlanta, qualifying 18 teams to high school nationals over a three year period. A leader in the National Debate Coaches Association, he is one of the top secondary school debate instructors in the U.S. He has received coaching awards from the Georgia Forensics Coaches Association and the U.S. District VI NDT College Coaches Group. A top faculty member for national debate institutes, Herndon has served at Michigan, Emory, Samford, and the Atlanta Urban Debate Institute at Georgia State. He has been a coaching assistant for the NDT at Emory for the last 3 years and will direct the 2009 Emory National Debate Institute.

Dylan Keenan, B.A., Debate Coach. One of the nation's top intercollegiate debaters, Keenan qualified for the NDT four times, received two first round invitations to the NDT, qualified for the elimination rounds both times, and finished his career in the semi-finals. A top debate instructor, he has served as a faculty member for three years at the University of Michigan National Debate Institute and joined the staff of the Emory National Debate Institute in 2008. He has an excellent reputation in national interscholastic debate as an assistant debate coach for the top ranked Westminster Schools. He has volunteered his time to work in the urban debate network and served in that capacity as a faculty member in the 2008 Atlanta Urban Debate Institute.

Christy Bradley, B.B.A., Business Manager. The principle travel and budget administrator since 2003, Bradley has been on the administrative staff of the Emory National Debate Institute since 1998. She facilitates assessment efforts for programs, student development, and budgets. Bradley is a faculty member of the Computer Assisted Debate Program and administers the Georgia Middle School Tournaments. She spearheads the Barkley Forum's international debate education programs in South Korea and Columbia, and has served as visiting faculty in debate across the curriculum at the Korean Development Institute Graduate School in Public Policy and Business Management. Bradley is a returning faculty member at the Asian Debate Institute hosted alternately by Kyung Hee University, Ewha University, and the Korean Development Institute Graduate School.

Kara Grant, M.A., Director of Operations and Grants. Former visiting faculty member in the Department of Communication at Georgia State University, Grant has been on staff with the Barkley Forum since 2000 and directs programs, budgets, and assessment. She is Director of the Atlanta Urban Debate League and the Georgia Middle School Debate League and has served as an advisor to the National Debate Project, Associated Leaders of Urban Debate, National Association for Urban Debate Leagues, Glenn Pelham Foundation, Miami Dade Urban Debate League, and others in the national urban debate network. She has raised over $1 million in grants and awards for the support of urban education initiatives at Emory and is the administrative director of the Barkley Forum for High Schools tournament. Grant oversees the architecture for the proposed Center for Debate Education at Emory and has received recognition from the Atlanta Public Schools, the Miami Dade Urban Debate League, and the National Debate Project.

Betty J. Maddox, B.A., Senior Operations Associate. Former Atlanta Public Schools system wide debate administrator and long-time teacher, Maddox is a part-time member of the Barkley Forum administrative staff. She is a faculty member in the Computer Assisted Debate Program and an administrator in the Georgia Middle School Debate League. A principle founder of the Urban Debate League, she was named Georgia Teacher of the Year, and listed among Who's Who in America's Teachers. Maddox became the first African-American woman to be voted into the Georgia Forensic Coaches Association's Hall of Fame and chosen a Key Coach by the National Key Society of the Barkley Forum. She received the Paul Slappey Award for the National Promotion of Diversity in Forensics, and the Pelham Teaching Award at the National Forensics League National Championship Tournament. A highly sought national debate institute faculty member, she has served at NYU, Towson, Miami, Marquette, Emory, and the American University College of Law.