Scott Deatherage named Executive Director of the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 21, 2008

For More Information Contact:
Leonard A. Gail
Chairman of the Board of Directors
National Association for Urban Debate Leagues
(tel) 312-343-3502
(email) Lennygail@urbandebate.org

The Board of Directors of the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues (NAUDL) has named Dr. Larry Scott Deatherage as its Executive Director. Dr. Deatherage’s appointment concludes a four month nationwide search across the for profit business sector as well as the fields of non-profit administration, public education, and academic debate. He will work part time alongside NAUDL board chair Leonard Gail (who has been serving as interim Executive Director) until April 21 2008, when Dr. Deatherage will begin on a full time basis.

The NAUDL is the leadership organization of the Urban Debate movement. See http://www.urbandebate.org. It builds, strengthens, expands, and connects Urban Debate Leagues in cities around the country.

Research shows that competitive academic debate leagues help close the achievement gap and prepare low-income youth for college. Urban Debate Leagues (UDLs) have a track record of improving academic performance, building a bridge to college and developing leadership. For example, while the vast majority of urban debaters have parents who did not go to college and peers who often do not graduate from high school, UDLs send more than 75% of their students to four-year colleges.

Dr. Deatherage comes to the NAUDL from a historic tenure as the Director of Debate at Northwestern University where he coached the National Debate Champion seven times since 1994. Not surprisingly, he was named “Coach of the Decade” for the 1990s

At Northwestern, Dr. Deatherage also served as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Communications Studies. Included in the classes he taught were: Mass Media and Political Campaign Strategies, Political Communication, Rhetoric of Social Movements, and Theories of Argumentation. He was twice a finalist for the Charles Deering McCormick University Distinguished Lecturer award. Dr. Deatherage received his Ph.D. in Communication Studies from Northwestern, his M.A. in Communication Studies from Baylor University, and his B.B.A. in Economics and Finance, also from Baylor.

NAUDL Board Chair, Leonard A. Gail, announced Dr. Deatherage’s appointment: “The NAUDL board is just delighted to have Scott at the helm. The search committee labored long and hard reviewing the submissions of nearly two-hundred applicants from around the country, and it was obviously worth the effort. Scott knows the importance of our mission to the nation’s urban youth and is committed to it. He brings to our organization a demonstrated record of excellence and leadership in a closely related field. And, he knows the critical importance of teamwork in pursing that kind of success.”

According Dr. Deatherage, “Academic debate was for me, as it has been for so many others, a life changing activity. So, I have tried to assist the local UDL while discharging my Northwestern coaching and teaching obligations. But, the prospect of devoting the entirety of my professional life to the NAUDL’s mission -- making debate opportunities available to more and more students nationwide -- is exhilarating.”

He continued, “I can’t wait to join with new and old colleagues and friends who have already devoted their careers to this noble pursuit. The NAUDL board has made clear that my job is to accelerate the growth of urban debate opportunities nationwide. I look forward to working alongside existing UDL directors, coaches, and other supporters to replicate the impressive successes that already exists.”

For more information about the NAUDL and Urban Debate, go to the NAUDL’s official website at www.UrbanDebate.org.

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