At the recent annual IPDA convention/tournament hosted by the University of Arkansas at Monticello, Keith Milstead, a senior communications major, won the individual Open Division competition, and was named Open Division national champion for the season. Jason Jones, a freshman political science major, was named national champion in the Novice Division.

Other team members taking awards included: Joe Hayes, a sophomore business major, was third place national champion speaker in the Novice Division; Alysia Wilson and Tristan Gilley, both seniors in public relations, were octofinalists in the Varsity Division; Randy Patrick, a senior broadcast journalism major, was 8th place overall season speaker in the Varsity Division; Ebony Holliday, a senior criminal justice major, earned 8th place overall season speaker in the Open Division, and Carlos Banks, a sophomore public relations major, was 9th tournament speaker in the Novice Division. Gilley also was named 7th place overall season speaker in the Novice division.

The IPDA promotes public forum debate, a format that uses public speaking skills and logic to build persuasive argumentation aimed at a general audience. The divisions reflect the amount of experience of the debaters: Novice is the entry level division, Varsity is for collegiate, undergraduate competition, and the Open division allows competition among undergraduates, graduates, coaches and community members. The IPDA focuses on enhancing education, rhetorical skill building and the development of fellowship. It is meant to apply critical thinking and oratorical skills in developing persuasive arguments with real-world applications on a broad range of interesting and timely topics.

Also at the convention/tournament, LSUS Debate Team Coach Mary “Jorji” Jarzabek, an instructor of communications, was elected IPDA president. For more information about the LSUS Debate Team or IPDA, contact her at 318-797-5318 or mjarzabe@lsus.edu. IPDA may be contacted at its Web site: www.ipdadebate.org.