FACULTY
Dr. William Jensen
Institute Director
Dr. William Jensen is the director of debate and tenured associate professor of Human Communication at Trinity University. Dr. Jensen has been teaching debate for more than 20 years, and has been the director at Trinity since 2014. He earned his PhD in rhetoric from the University of Georgia, focusing on political communication and public address.
While at Trinity, Dr. Jensen's teams have had historic success, including receiving a first-round bid to the 2020 National Debate Tournament, with a 14th place ranking. He has taught public speaking and debate at institutes around the United States including at Dartmouth College, Emory University, and Harvard. Will teaches Argumentation, Persuasion, and Political Communication at Trinity University, where he emphasizes the importance of critical thinking and research in rhetorical education.
Dr. Jensen believes that learning debate is a fundamental component of a well-rounded education, as debate experience provides us with the skills necessary to fight for what we believe in.
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KC Vernon
Institute Curriculum Director
Professor KC Vernon, J.D., has over a decade of experience with competitive debate and speaking events. They have competed in original oratory, policy debate, extemporaneous speaking, model UN, and Jessup International Moot Court. Professor Vernon has earned a license to practice law in Texas, which provides a unique perspective on debate instruction and strategy. Applying their legal education to the debate world, KC specializes in training debaters to effectively use cross-examination, adapt to judges, and utilize quality research practices to construct arguments.
Trinity has been fortunate to have KC as the head argument coach for the past two years. During that time KC has revolutionized Trinity’s argumentative approach, moving Trinity forward in participating in modern college policy debate. Professor Vernon teaches rhetoric and public speaking courses at Trinity University, and believes “that the critical skills encouraged by debate training are essential to a student’s ability to change the world.”
Maggie Solice
Lab Leader
Maggie Solice is a debate coach, educator, and scholar with nearly two decades of experience in competitive debate. A former Texas high school and Trinity University debater, she later coached at Harvard, where she worked with the Copeland Award-winning team—the highest honor in policy debate. As Associate Director of the Harvard Debate Council, she led curriculum development, international partnerships, and outreach initiatives like The Veritas Library.
She has taught at top debate institutes, including Dartmouth, Michigan State, and UC Berkeley, and has received the James Unger Coaching Award. Committed to expanding debate education, she has developed public speaking and argumentation curricula for students in North America, China, and Taiwan. She loves teaching and learning from her students. Maggie holds a B.A. in Political Science and Human Communication from Trinity University and an M.A. in Communication Studies from the University of Texas. She is currently pursuing her PhD at Northwestern University.
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Ian Dill
Lab Leader
Ian Dill is a Graduate Student and Debate Coach at the University of Texas. He is studying Global Development, Food Policy, and Sustainability at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. Ian Dill won the 2016 Tournament of Champions in policy debate, competing for Highland Park, Minnesota. Ian debated for four years in college at Trinity University, where he received a first-round at-large bid to the National Debate Tournament (NDT) in 2020, the first in the school’s history.
Ian went on to coach at Churchill High School in San Antonio, Texas. While coaching there, Ian’s teams received many bids to the Tournament of Champions in policy debate, and earned 2nd place at the 2023 National Speech and Debate Association Championship Tournament. Ian successfully coached UT to qualify first out of districts to the NDT in 2025. Ian enjoys the rigorous research process that debate affords its participants, crafting strategic arguments on a given topic, and reasoning through all possible responses. Ian hopes to sharpen students analytic thinking skills and improve their research abilities through a rigorous, proven curriculum.
Aly Mithani
Lab Leader
Aly Mithani is the Director of Speech and Debate at Sandra Day O'Connor High School in San Antonio. He was a four-year debater and Baker Duncan scholar at Trinity University. In six years as the policy debate coach at Hendrickson High School, Mithani's teams won 3 UIL State Championships, advanced to deep elimination rounds at TFA State and NSDA Nationals and attended the Tournament of Champions. Since coming to O'Connor in 2023, the school became only the 2nd 6A school to win both Informative and Persuasive Extemp at UIL State. O'Connor also had the 3rd speaker at NSDA Nationals in World Schools Debate.
Jack Moore
Lab Leader
Jack debated in high school from 2015-2019 at Jesuit Dallas. He also debated in college for Trinity University, graduating in 2024 with a degree in political science. In high school, Jack made it to the late elimination rounds of multiple local, regional, and national tournaments. In college, he had success at many tournaments, including two 32nd seeds at the National Debate Tournament and the top speaker of the D3 2023 District tournament.
Jack now coaches full time for Jesuit Dallas. Throughout his years of helping the team, Jesuit has had success at the state and national level including placing in the late elimination rounds of New Trier, St. Marks, Houston, TFA State, and more. He has experience debating and coaching a wide range of arguments. “I love debate because I get to see the intellectual curiosity of some of the smartest people in the country every weekend.”
Ruth Patterson
Lab Leader
Ruth is a junior at Trinity University where they study classics. Ruth has participated in policy debate for six years, and has qualified to the National Debate Tournament twice. The NDT features the top 78 teams from around the United States, and requires a debater to extensively compete in order to qualify. As a Trinity debater, Ruth has enjoyed great competitive success, including earning second place at the University of Houston Tournament, second place at the Kansas State Tournament, and fifth place at the University of Texas - San Antonio tournament.
They enjoy engaging with many areas of critical thought and believe that debate at its best is a site for igniting students’ passions and generating strategies to better the world.
Brooklyn King
Lab Leader
Brooklyn King has 6 years of policy debate experience, debating for Churchill High School they were the 2023 national runner up at the NSDA championship tournament. As a Trinity University debater Brooklyn has qualified to the National Debate Tournament for the second year in a row, after achieving a top 32 finish in 2024. Brooklyn currently coaches the 25th ranked Public Forum team in the United States
As a debate coach, Brooklyn is passionate about sharing the research, critical thinking, and persuasive communication skills that will shape the future leaders and advocates of the world. They are deeply dedicated to helping students harness the power of debate to access educational opportunities and academic excellence that would otherwise be inaccessible. Brooklyn strives to create an inclusive, supportive, and intellectually vibrant environment where students can flourish and develop lifelong skills, engage thoughtfully with complex issues, and become catalysts for change.
FAITH OLABANJI
Lab Assistant
Meet Faith Olabanji. Faith is a First-Year at Trinity University who participates in Cross-Examination Debate on campus. She has 3 years of debate experience in the areas of LD and Policy. She's very excited to be working as an RA and Lab Assistant for the 2025 Trinity Debate Institute Inaugural.
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