Assistant Director of Debate and Forensics

Assistant Director of Debate and Forensics
Whitman College

WHITMAN COLLEGE

Located in the historic community of Walla Walla, Whitman's vibrant and beautiful tree-lined campus is home to an intellectually diverse, dynamic, welcoming and supportive community of some 500 staff and faculty serving approximately 1,500 students from the local region and across the globe. With exceptional students, accomplished faculty and staff, and a fiercely loyal and growing number of engaged alumni, Whitman College continues to build on its national reputation for academic excellence as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country.

Whitman College is cultivating a community built on inclusion and belonging. We recognize the value of those who can offer historically underrepresented perspectives and encourage applications from those whose background, knowledge, and insights from lived experience can add to the college's working and learning environment. Whitman College is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer (EEO) .

POSITION PURPOSE

The Assistant Director of Debate & Forensics leads a nationally-recognized debate and recently added forensics program within the context of a rigorous liberal arts experience. The program has been characterized by talented debaters, debate scholarships, coaches with significant debating experience, and strong institutional and alumni support. The team is looking to expand into speech and individual events, although the main focus of the program will continue to be debate. As a member of the College staff, the Assistant Director of Debate & Forensics will report to the Director of Debate & Forensics who reports to the Senior Associate Dean of Students, and will manage all aspects of the debate & forensics program, including the following.

PRIMARY DUTIES

• Teaching students research skills via academic databases that will aid in their ability to prepare arguments and excel in their classes.
• Coaching and preparing the competitive speech and debate squad.
• Advising on argumentation and case preparation, as well speech preparation.
• Assisting in speech topic and forensics piece selection and blocking.
• Conducting practice and drill sessions with debaters and forensicators several times each week, including occasional topic lectures and work outside of normal hours.
• Traveling with teams to tournaments and related events; driving to tournaments.
• Judging at evening and weekend tournaments.

SECONDARY DUTIES

• Helping the Director plan each semesters' travel schedule.
• Assisting the Director in planning and carrying out on campus events.
• Overseeing team interactions and facilitating a healthy team culture.
• Ensuring that all debate and forensics staff and team members serve as effective and responsible representatives and ambassadors of Whitman College.

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Individuals must be able to explain and/or demonstrate that they possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities to safely perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation.

• The ability to coach a debate and forensics program and to work successfully with diverse constituencies, including alumni, faculty, staff, students, and volunteers, individually and in committees, is critical.
• Experience mentoring students from historically underrepresented groups.
• Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills are required.
• Must be highly organized and able to think strategically.
• The ability to handle multiple tasks, prioritize work, and meet deadlines.
• Ability to lead programming in a professional and fiscally responsible manner.
• If necessary, the willingness to appropriately challenge any unfair, unjust, or uncivil behavior of students.
• Familiarity with web-enhanced instructional tools and research databases are expected.
• Proficiency with the Microsoft Office suite of applications and Google Drive are essential.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in Communication/Rhetoric/Argumentation
• Recent direct coaching experience in national level college forensics
• Two years or more of instructional experience at the post-secondary level

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Master's degree in a related field
• Experience coaching parliamentary debate
• Experience coaching speech and individual events
• Experience as an exceptional college forensicator
• Demonstrated commitment to private liberal arts education
• Experience as staff and/or working with student affairs

WORKING CONDITIONS

• Most work will be completed in an indoor environment with moderate sitting, standing and walking.
• Position will require some travel by airplane and/or passenger vehicle.

BENEFITS

Whitman offers competitive employee benefits, including medical, dental, vision and life insurances, a generous 10% matching contribution to the Whitman College 403(b) Defined Contribution Retirement Plan, and paid time off including 13 paid holidays for full-time staff vacation and sick leave. Learn more about benefits eligibility here.

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS

At Whitman College, we take seriously the safety of our community. Whitman is a fully vaccinated campus, requiring all employees and students to be up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations or have an approved exemption. More information can be found here.

DISABILITY ACCOMMODATION FOR JOB CANDIDATES

Contact Human Resources regarding requests for disability accommodation in the employment application process.

APPLICATION REVIEW

Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

START DATE

October 1, 2022


For full application instructions and position description, visit https://whitman.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=228


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