Faculty

Board of Directors

*All of our directors also serve as instructors at our institute.

Tom Evnen

Tom is a graduate student in Philosophy at the University of Chicago. Formerly a coach at The Hockaday School (Dallas, TX), he currently works with the University School (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) and is a curriculum director at the National Debate Forum (Boston, MA). As a debater, Tom was the Nebraska state champion and runner-up at the Tournament of Champions (TOC). He has also coached students to tremendous success in and outside of Texas. He has qualified well over a dozen students to TFA State, including a 2007 runner-up, 2008 semi-finalist, and 2009 quarterfinalist. In only four years, Tom coached five different Hockaday students to the top 16 of the TOC, including a semifinalist in 2008. He coached the champion of NFL Nationals in 2007 and 2009, and the runner-up in 2008. Tom also coached the runner-up of the 2009 Greenhill Fall Classic and St. Mark’s Invitational.

Devin Race

Devin debated for Westlake High School (Austin, TX) and is currently an undergraduate student at Yale University. He is an assistant coach at Stoneman Douglas High School (Parkland, FL). In only his first year coaching, one of his students advanced to outrounds of the Tournament of Champions. Devin has also previously taught at the National Debate Forum (Boston, MA). As a debater, Devin had numerous successes on many different circuits. Devin was a four-time qualifier and three-time outround participant at TFA State. He was a semifinalist in 2008, and the 2009 State Champion, Top-Seed, and Top-Speaker. Devin qualified to the Tournament of Champions twice, reaching the semifinals in 2009. He placed 11th at NFL Nationals in 2009, and qualified to UIL 5A State as a sophomore, in 2007.

Andrew Waks

Andrew debated for four years at Westlake High School in Austin and currently attends Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, PA). He was the Co-Director of LD Debate at the Bronx High School of Science in New York City from 2009-2011. There, he coached three students to the Tournament of Champions, and coached the champions of the Yale Invitational, Scarsdale, and Princeton. In addition to his work at Bronx Science, Andrew volunteers with the Malcolm X Debate Program. This organization brings debate education (centered on the Public Forum style) into the high school at Riker’s Island, a major New York City prison. He has also taught at a number of summer debate institutes: the National Debate Forum (Boston, MA), the Victory Briefs Institute (Los Angeles, CA), and the Texas Debate Collective Summer and Winter Institutes (Austin/Houston, TX). As a debater, Andrew attained success at both the local and national levels. He qualified for regions in UIL as a sophomore and was a three-time qualifier and twice out-round participant at TFA State. On the national circuit, Andrew amassed five bids to the 2009 Tournament of Champions. Three of these were from Texas tournaments— Andrew was the champion of the 2009 Colleyville and Memorial tournaments, and runner-up at the 2008 University of Texas Longhorn Classic. He was also captain of the NYU Policy Debate team in 2011.

Andy Werner

Andy is a PhD philosophy student at the University of Chicago. He debated for four years at Strake Jesuit (Houston, TX), during which time he qualified for the TOC twice, won TFA state and Blake, and led the Strake team to be first in the nation.

Since graduating high school, he has coached students to win NFL nationals, to final at St. Mark’s and Greenhill, and to semifinal at the Tournament of Champions.

Kris Wright

Kris Wright holds a BA in Philosophy and Government, and a MA in Gender Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a 2010 Teach for America corps member, who works full-time as a high school teacher at the Oak Cliff campus of Texans CAN! Academy in Dallas, TX. Kris started the debate team at the CAN! and previously coached at Southlake Carroll (Southlake, TX), University School (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), Westlake (Austin, TX), and Marcus (Flower Mound, TX). Kris is an experienced camp instructor, having previously taught at a number of debate institutes, including VBI (Los Angeles, CA), NDF (Boston, MA and Ft. Lauderdale, FL), and, of course, every TDC camp to date. He has coached students to success in every circuit debated in Texas. He has qualified students to UIL State, including the 5A runner-up in 2008. He has qualified a dozen students to TFA State, including semi-finalists (’06, ’07, ’08, ’11) and the 2009 State Champion & Top Speaker. Kris’ students have qualified to the Tournament of Champions, including a bubble-round contestant (’05), a quarterfinalist (’07), and a semifinalist (’09). And he has qualified 7 students to NFL Nationals in LD, including two eleventh-place finishes. In Texas, he has coached finalists in LD at Grapevine (’08, ’10), Memorial (close-out in ’06, ’08, ’09), University of Texas (’08), Colleyville (’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10), Churchill (’05, ’09, ’10), and St. Mark’s (’10).

Confirmed 2012 Staff

Many more names and complete biographies will be added in the next month. Click here for information on our staff from last summer.

Emily Bao

Andrew Cockroft

Kay Dannenmaier

Monica Ghosh

Brian Hodge

Amyn Kassam

Shane O’Neal

Ari Parker

Becca Traber