Asst Director of Debate

About the Role

Assists the Director of Debate in the administration of a nationally competitive intercollegiate policy debate team of more than 30 students.

Responsibilities

• Teaching debaters of various skill levels in lecture, discussion, and one-on-one formats.
• Assistance developing argumentative strategies and managing team research.
• Judging and critiquing practice debates.
• Frequent weekend travel, including coaching, judging, and oversight of students at tournament locations.
• Overseeing the recruitment of high school debaters, including occasional travel to scout and meet with recruits.
• Administrative assistance with high school and college tournaments hosted by the debate team.
• Occasional responsibility for administrative matters related to attending tournaments, including entry fees, transportation, and lodging arrangements.
• Administrative assistance with the debate team’s web and social media presence, including the Internet, Facebook, and Twitter/X.
• Works effectively as a team member, embracing and fostering the university’s mission.

Supervisory Responsibilities

This position is responsible for supervising the team’s 2 assistant debate coaches.

Requirements

• Four year college degree.
• Experience in intercollegiate policy debate as a competitor, judge, or coach.
• Strong research skills across a wide range of research sources, including books, journals, electronic databases, and the Internet.
• Competency in Microsoft Word and Excel.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, including a high degree of comfort coaching and teaching college students.
• Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to maintain a professional and cordial working relationship with colleagues under conditions of extreme competitive pressure.
• Strong organizational skills, including the ability to understand and utilize administrative and supervisory resources.
• Minimum computer competencies required to use Facebook, Twitter/X, and other social media.
• Able to apply logic, reason, and research to improve the arguments and strategies of the team and to expose weaknesses in the arguments and strategies of opponents.

Preferred Qualifications

• Three or more years of experience coaching a National Debate Tournament, Cross-Examination Debate Association, or American Debate Association intercollegiate policy debate team.

Working Conditions

• Frequently required to travel long distances to tournament locations by car, van, bus, and plane.
• Frequently required to sit for extended periods of time to perform deskwork, type on a keyboard, or judge practice and tournament debates.
• Regularly required to hear and speak in order to effectively communicate orally.
• Occasionally required to stand, walk, and climb stairs to move about the building and tournament locations.
• Frequently required to work hours outside of the normal office schedule, including evenings and weekends.
• Work environment is typically a climate-controlled office setting, in both the debate office and at tournament locations. Tournament work conditions may include high levels of background noise.
• A clean driving record and ability to drive 15 passenger vehicles to and from tournaments is preferred.

Pay

$55,000.00 - $75,000.00

Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits, including health insurance, retirement plans, and tuition assistance.

Schedule

Full time, onsite.