Meet the WPDU Coaches
With two full-time directors and numerous graduate teaching assistants working with debate, the William Pitt Debating Union (WPDU) boasts one of the largest and most experienced coaching staffs anywhere in the country.
The current group's combination of vibrant academic interests and extensive coaching resumes establishes Pittsburgh as a leading center of argumentation theory and practice. While coaches are not expected to cut cards, they take a hands-on approach to argument innovation and development.
The Union’s coaching alums have continued coaching at the highest levels of college debate, and include current and former directors at Clarion, Macalester, Marist, Mary Washington, Northern Illinois, James Madison and Georgia.
Director of the William Pitt Debating Union
Gordon Mitchell
A Pittsburgh native, Mitchell first cut his debate chops at Quaker Valley High School in Edgeworth, PA. As a college debater at Northwestern University he earned three NDT first-round bids, won top speaker at the NDT, and reached the final round of 14 major national tournaments. In 11 years as Director of Debate at the University of Pittsburgh, Mitchell guided teams to elimination rounds at major national tournaments including the NDT, CEDA Nationals, Towson Novice Nationals, Northwestern Novice Nationals, Northwestern, Wake Forest, Kentucky, and others. He also convened over 100 public debates and designed curriculum for multiple debate outreach programs, including those administered by the U.S. Department of State. Mitchell's research program specializes in public address and argument, rhetoric of science, and critical pedagogy. His book on the public argumentation surrounding the U.S. missile defense program won the NCA Winans Wichelns Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Public Address. He edited the Proceedings of the First Diversity Recruitment and Retention in Debate Ideafest and has published numerous field-shaping articles on argumentation in The Quarterly Journal of Speech, Argumentation & Advocacy, Social Epistemology, Controversia, and The Rostrum. The University of Pittsburgh recognized Mitchell's work on public debate and debate outreach with the Bellet Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Director of Debate
Shanara Reid-Brinkley
Reid-Brinkley's University of Georgia doctoral dissertation explores how debaters use innovative forms of argumentation, such as hip hop music, to challenge prevailing norms of argument practice and press for a more racially inclusive intercollegiate policy debate community. She holds an M.A. in Communication from the University of Alabama and a B.A. in Political Science from Emory University. As one of the first generation of students to participate in the U.S. Urban Debate League program, Reid-Brinkley starred for Therrell High School in Atlanta, GA. While debating for Emory as an undergraduate student, she qualified for the elimination rounds and won individual speaking awards at many major national tournaments, reaching the quarterfinals of the Cross Examination Debate Association's national championship. Her numerous debate honors include Baylor's Debater of the Year Award and the Southeastern Regional Debate Critic of the Year Award. Reid-Brinkley's research on the rhetorical, cultural and political dimensions of hip hop music has been presented at national conferences and selected competitively for inclusion in the "New Voices" panel sponsored by the Critical/Cultural Studies Division at the National Communication Association (NCA). She has been recognized as one of the field's top young scholars, being invited to attend the NCA Doctoral Honors Seminar. This remarkable level of research achievement is matched in classroom excellence; Reid-Brinkley received the S.P.A.R.K.S. Teaching Award and the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award while at the University of Georgia.
Assistant Coach (specializing in public debate pedagogy)
Brent Saindon
Brent joins the WPDU this year from Denton, TX, where he recently earned an MA degree ('06) in communication from the University of North Texas. As a star undergraduate debater for Fort Hays State University, Brent cleared at tournaments hosted by USC, Fullerton and Northwestern, reached the finals of Wake Forest, semis at Pepperdine, quarters at the NDT and octas at CEDA Nationals, while also securing a first-round bid to the NDT.
As a highly successful coach at North Texas, Brent helped guide teams to the Kentucky Round Robin and elim appearances at UT-Dallas, Wake Forest and Fullerton (among other tourneys).
His masters thesis is a comparative study of collective memory as it relates to public monuments.
Assistant Coach
Joe Packer
Joe completed a history major at the University of Mary Washington (BA, ’05), then studied communication at Wake Forest University (MA, ’07). He began his debate career in college and qualified for the NDT as well as breaking at several major tournaments. At Wake Forest he helped coach the national championship runner-up team. His master’s thesis examines how public argument constructs humanity’s relationship with extraterrestrial life through the lens of acknowledgment.
Assistant Coach
John Rief
John completed a double major in philosophy and communication at Regis University (BA, '05), where he was a standout policy debater, clearing to the elimination rounds at major national tournaments such as Wake Forest, Kentucky, CEDA Nationals and the NDT. A large part of John's success stemmed from his ability to cultivate a broad argumentative repertoire, incorporating both traditional argument styles and cutting-edge performance advocacy.
His current area of academic interest is public argument. John's academic work has appeared in journals such as Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies and has been selected for publication in proceedings of argumentation conferences sponsored by the International Society for the Study of Argumentation and the American Forensic Association.