Aaron Kall has been appointed as the new director of the U-M Debate Program and Debate Institutes. He served as assistant director of debate from 2002 until April, at which point he was named interim director.

Also announced was the appointment of David Heidt as the Debate Program’s assistant director. Both appointments were effective Sept. 1.

Kall and Heidt will continue to build upon the U-M Intercollegiate Debating Team, which serves as one of the nation’s first intercollegiate debate teams. This tradition extends to 1890, and from that time until today the Debating Team has championed teaching critical thinking skills and persuasive communication techniques. According to the latest National Debate Coaches’ Poll, U-M is ranked No. 7 in the country and its top team of Edmund Zagorin and Maria Liu is ranked seventh.

Kall and Heidt also will lead the Michigan Debate Institutes, a nationally recognized summer teaching and training program for high school debate students.

“I have been impressed with Aaron’s and David’s commitment to debate as a meaningful form of student involvement, a forum for robust teaching and learning, and as a means for regional outreach, service and engagement,” says Loren Rullman, associate vice president for student affairs. “And true to U-M’s commitment to community service, both Aaron’s and David’s personal involvement with the National Urban Debate League serves as a model of learning and civic opportunity for our students as they further the U-M Debate Team’s involvement with this program in Detroit.”

Earlier this month, U-M hosted the first Detroit Urban Debate Education conference on the topics of policy debate, urban education, social justice and experiential learning styles, drawing educators and students from several universities.

Kall earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in communication studies from the University of Kentucky. At Kentucky he also served as assistant debate coach.

As assistant director of debate at U-M, Kall helped organize the travel schedule for the Debate Team, supervised and evaluated program assistants and summer Debate Institutes faculty, and recruited promising high school debaters to U-M.

Heidt joins U-M from Emory University, where he served as the assistant debate coach since 1996. Since then he also has served as a faculty member in U-M’s summer Debate Institutes. David holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology from Emory University. As a student at Emory he was the 1996 winner of the National Debate Tournament.

Recently, at the 39th Annual University of Kentucky Round Robin hosted at Northwestern University, the U-M Debate Team won third place. This is the first time since 1999 that Michigan has finished in the top three at the oldest and most prestigious Debate Round Robin in the country. For more information on the Debate Program and leadership, go to www.michigandebate.com.