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Wyoming Debate Hall of Fame Inducts Inaugural Class

May 15, 2009
Man
Michael Owens of Sheridan, who won two national speaking championships, is among members of the Wyoming Debate Hall of Fame inaugural class.

Five individuals were inducted into the Wyoming Debate Hall of Fame inaugural class during recent ceremonies at the University of Wyoming.

"The hall of fame was designed to honor highly respected coaches, competitors and supporters who have contributed to intercollegiate debate in the state of Wyoming," says UW forensics coach Matt Stannard.

The Department of Communication and Journalism (COJO) and the UW debate team hosted the induction of the hall of fame, created by Department Chairman Ken Smith and Stannard. Permanent plaques for these individuals will be on display outside of the COJO Department offices.

The five inductees were:

B. Wayne Callaway: Callaway was UW's director of forensics for three decades, says Stannard. He coached his teams in a debate with the Soviet Union that took place in Canada during the Vietnam War in addition to serving in nearly every national and regional leadership position in debate and forensics. He coached his teams to countless tournament victories and to the upper echelons of the prestigious National Debate Tournament, producing several first round at-large bids and elimination round qualifiers there.

Gregory Dyekman:  A UW student in the 1970s, Dyekman was described by Callaway as one of the nation's best Cross Examination Debate Association debaters. Following his successful debate career and subsequently graduating in the top 10 percent of his UW law class, Dyekman has been a prominent attorney in Cheyenne, where he has been named among the Best Lawyers in America and has served on the Board of Visitors for the College of Arts and Sciences.

Allan Louden: Louden was the director of debate at Northwest Community College in Powell from 1971-1977. Louden was then appointed director of forensics at Wake Forest University, where his teams have won two national championships, made two final round appearances and have consistently been in the Sweet 16 or better at nearly every National Debate Tournament for the past 30 years. He has been inducted into the Barkley Forum Key Coaches honorary at Emory University, has received the American Forensics Association's Distinguished Service Award and has been named Coach of the Year several different years by many different organizations. Louden now directs graduate studies in the Communication Studies Department at Wake Forest.

Michael Owens: Owens, of Sheridan, won two team championships and two national speaking championships debating at UW from 1999-2003. Since then, Owens has received an M.A. in communication studies from Oregon State University and is a second-year law student at Willamette University, where he serves on the editorial staff of the school's Law Review.

Douglas Reeves: Lauded by Stannard as one of the nation's best policy-style debaters when he attended UW in the early 1970s, Reeves founded The Leadership and Learning Center. He has worked with education, business, nonprofit and government organizations throughout the world. The author of more than 20 books and many articles on leadership and organizational effectiveness, he has twice been named to the Harvard University Distinguished Authors Series. His monthly column on change leadership appears in Educational Leadership Magazine.

Posted on Friday, May 15, 2009

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