UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

Bohn Lattin

Speech & Debate Union Takes Full Tournament Honors

The University of Portland Speech and Debate Union took full honors in winning the Novice International Public Debate Association debate division at the Northwest Parliamentary Warm-Up Debate Tournament on September 8, 2017, according to Bohn Lattin, communication studies.

Kelsy Smith, psychology and Spanish, took first place; Jesse Barrett, social work, took second place; and Joseph Krietzberg, civil engineering, took third place. In addition, all three placed in the top five novice Speaker’s category. Ryan Reiger, computer science, was a semi-finalist in the Senior/Open division and won the Top Speaker award.

For more information contact Lattin at lattin@up.edu.

Speech & Debate Union Earns Bronze Eagle Award

Staff and faculty portraitsThe University of Portland Speech and Debate Union won a Bronze Eagle team trophy from the Northwest Forensics Conference (NFC) for the 2014-2015 academic year, according to Bohn Lattin, communication studies. The NFC is made up of speech and debate teams from Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington, and also includes some of the most prominent, award-winning, and well-funded teams in the nation.

Eagle team trophies are awarded based on a compilation of cumulative points earned during the year. Each individual debate and speech award won, each individual speaker award earned, and each individual platform trophy awarded is tabulated and goes toward a total team score. Team members are Karina Agbisit, communication studies; Lakshmi Biswas-Diener, communication studies; Arthur Hammer, business administration; Elizabeth Hartley, biology; Lisa Holm, communication studies; Patrick Johnson, education; Anna Murphy, political science; Alex Parini, political science; Edward Richter, political science; Chelsea Roberts, communication studies; and Katherine Wilson, political science. All are welcome to see the trophy located in a case outside the College of Arts and Sciences.

For more information contact Lattin at 7352 or lattin@up.edu.

Speech & Debate Union Competes, Wins On National Level

parini copyUniversity of Portland Speech and Debate Union member Alex Parini (pictured), political science, was named as the 1st Place Speaker at the 2015 International Public Debate Association national tournament, held March 27-29 at Boise State University. Parini competed against 114 of the nation’s finest debaters to win this prestigious award. Out of 114 debaters, three UP Speech and Debate Union members (Patrick Johnson, education, Catherine Wilson, political science, and Arthur Hammer, business administration), ranked among the best 32 debaters in the nation based on their win-loss record. Parini advanced to the top 16 based on his win-loss record.

For more information contact Bohn Lattin, communication studies, at 7352 or lattin@up.edu.

UP Speech & Debate Union

Staff and faculty portraitsThe University of Portland Speech and Debate Union competed at the 84th Annual R. D. Mahaffey Memorial Speech and Debate Tournament at Linfield College over the weekend of November 15-16. Senior biology major Elizabeth Hartley earned first place honors as Best Speaker in Open/Senior International Public Debate. She was also one of two of UP quarterfinalists in Senior International Public Debate. Junior global business major Anna Murphy won a Top 11 Speaker award in Open/Senior Interna­tional Public Debate, and was the second UP team member to win a quarterfinalist award.

For the first time in many years, the University of Portland Speech and Debate Union competed in not only the International Public Debate Association (IPDA), but also through the National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA). The University’s NPDA team was made up of freshman political science major Alex Parini and freshman education major Pat Johnson. They debated in the Junior tier of NPDA debate and placed in the octofinals, competing against debaters with more collegiate debating experience.

For more information contact UP speech and debate co-director Bohn Lattin, communication studies, at 7352 or lattin@up.edu.

Speech and Debate team tournament results

lattin-copyUnder the direction of Bohn Lattin, the University of Portland’s Speech and Debate Union competed two weekends ago at the Steve Hunt Memorial Speech and Debate Tournament on the campus of Lewis and Clark College. Congratulations are due to the following UP SDU members on their impressive accomplishments at that speech and debate tournament:

As a whole The University of Portland Speech and Debate Union took 7th place sweepstakes honors in debate. There were 27 competing debate teams.

Katie Wilson (senior political science & Spanish) earned 2nd place in the Senior division of International Public Debate.

Alex Parini (freshman political science) won 2nd place honors in the Junior division of International Public Debate.

Edward Richter (junior political science and philosophy) was a Quarterfinalist in the Junior division of International Public Debate. He was also recognized as one of the Top 10 Speakers.

Lakshmi Diener (junior communication studies) was an Octafinalist in the Junior division of International Public Debate.

Anna Murphy (junior global business) won Top 10 Speaker award in Junior International Public Debate.

Pat Johnson (freshman elementary education) won Top 5 Speaker honors in Novice Extemporaneous Speaking and placed  3rd in Novice Persuasion.

Top Ten Ethics Bowl Finish for UP

Staff and faculty portraitsThe University of Portland recently competed in the Northwest Region’s Ethics Bowl at Seattle Pacific University. Despite facing two teams which were eventually regional semi-finalists, the UP team finished in the Top Ten for the region—an impressive achievement in the University’s first year of competition at that level.

Congratulations are in order to this year’s team members: Lisa Holm, organizational communication; Lakshmi Diener, communication studies; Elizabeth Hartley, biology; Karina Agbisit,  environmental policy and ethics; and Anna Murphy, business administration and Spanish. The team was directed by Bohn Lattin and Brian Simmons, communication studies, and was assisted by Richard Askay, philosophy. For more information contact Simmons at 8025 or simmonsb@up.edu.

Speech and Debate Union

Staff and faculty portraitsUnder the direction of Bohn Lattin and Brian Simmons, communication studies, the University of Portland’s Speech and Debate Union recently participated in the annual Steve Hunt Classic Speech and Debate Tournament at Lewis and Clark College. Freshman Karina Agbisit, environmental policy, won third place out of 30 competitors in the event “Novice Impromptu Speaking.” Junior Elizabeth Hartley, biology, won fourth place out of 23 competitors in “Novice Extemporaneous Speaking.” Sophomore Amanda Murphy, business and Spanish double major, advanced to the quarterfinals (top 8) of 28 competitors in the Junior division of debate and earned the tournament’s Top Speaker award in her division. For more information contact Simmons at simmons@up.edu or Lattin at lattin@up.edu.

McNerney-Hanson Ethics Bowl

The first annual McNerney-Hanson Ethics Bowl was held on Saturday, April 20, according to CAS dean Michael Andrews. The event was sponsored by Andrews, who serves as the McNerney-Hanson Endowed Chair in Ethics, with additional support from the Dundon-Berchtold Ethics Grant. Two UP teams took part: one team of graduate students from Pamplin School of Business, and a second team of undergraduate students from the Speech and Debate Union. Special thanks go out to Bohn Lattin and Brian Simmons, communication studies; Richard Askay and Andrew Eshleman, philosophy; and Brian Adams, business administration.

Unlike other ethics bowl competitions, the McNerney-Hanson Ethics Bowl reflects a particular UP emphasis on ethical formation and the study and articulation of ethical theory and practice. The purpose is to expose graduate and undergraduate students to a philosophical kind of reflective, ethical thinking that allows them to apply an understanding of ethics to a particular situation or issue. For more information contact Andrews at 7760 or andrews@up.edu.

Speech/Debate Nationals

The University of Portland Speech and Debate Union sent four representatives to the Pi Kappa Delta National Speech and Debate Tournament in St. Louis, MO over spring break. Congratulations to sophomore Katie Wilson, who competed against debaters from 89 schools across the country and finished the tournament as a quarterfinalist (top 8 in the nation) and was deemed to be among the top 10 percent of all debate speakers in the nation. For more information contact Brian Simmons (simmons@up.edu) and Bohn Lattin (lattin@up.edu).

Speech and Debate Team

The University’s Speech and Debate Union competed against 15 regional colleges and universities under the direction of Bohn Lattin and Brian Simmons, communication studies, at Oregon State University’s ninth annual Earl Wells Speakeasy Memorial Tournament held in Corvallis on February 23-24. Katie Husk and Katie Wilson placed in the top 10 of the 85 Open Division debaters. Caleb Patterson placed in the top 6 of the 35 competitors in the Novice Division of the Extempor­aneous Speaking event.