Packer Keys HBCU Debate Workshop
Debate Teaching Assistant Joseph Packer is playing a key role in launching an exciting national initiative designed to start up intercollegiate policy debate programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
From August 10-14, undergraduate students from Fayetteville State University, Lincoln University, Morgan State University, Norfolk State University and Hampton University met in Fredericksburg, Virginia for an intense workshop, including debate lectures, exercises, and practice rounds.
In addition to delivering a plenary lecture on "Debate as a Strategic Game," Packer also led a small laboratory breakout group of debaters who conducted research and performed speaking drills in preparation for the upcoming intercollegiate debate season.
"Joe's enthusiasm for the virtues of a debate education was crucial to the success of this historic workshop which brought five new universities into the intercollegiate debate family," said workshop co-director Timothy O'Donnell.
The HBCU Debate project is a component of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and several of Packer's students will be on hand for the 2009 National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week Conference in Washington, D.C. upcoming August 30-September 2. Savannah State University and Vorhees College are expected to join the HBCU debate group soon, bringing the total number of new programs in the consortium to seven.
"The HBCU debate consortium, on behalf of the White House, is so pleased to have had the participation of Joe Packer who led labs along with other faculty in an amazing way that transformed a group of scared young novices into strong young debaters," said workshop co-director John W. Davis. "Joe's lecture was one of the highlights of student instruction."
Packer (MA, Wake Forest '07) is in his third year of the doctoral program in the Department of Communication. His research program traces how arguments about cosmology are deployed in historical debates.
