Professor Johnson has been involved in competitive debating for over 20 years and believes fervently in the power of academic debating to change people's lives.

Professor Johnson has held a variety of leadership positions in academic debating.  He was the first president of the National Parliamentary Debate Association, the largest intercollegiate debating organization in the US.  He is active in international debating and currently serves as the Secretary for the World Universities Debating Council.  He has been involved with the Chinese English language debating championships since 2004; and has served as the Chief Adjudicator for the past four rounds of that tournament.

Teams coached by Professor Johnson have enjoyed a great deal of competitive success.  In 2002, a Seawolf Debate team won the US National Championships.  In January of 2007, a team from the University of Alaska prevailed over 320 teams from around the world to reach the Semifinal round of the World Universities Debating Championships.

A self-professed debate addict, Shawn is a 1998 graduate of the US Air Force Academy, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in political science.  While at the Academy, he competed in both policy debate and extemporaneous speaking, and he was named a Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) All American debater in 1998.

After graduation, Shawn served on active duty in the US Air Force for 6 years.  He earned a Master of Arts in international relations from the University of Oklahoma in 2004 and a Master of Arts in teaching through the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2007.  He has coached high school students to more than 15 national-level awards, including 3rd place finishes in congressional debate at both the Catholic Forensic League national championships and the Tournament of Champions.

Drew (pictured right) is a junior at UAA who has been debating for three years.  He has attended two world championships and three national championships.  He and Sarah were only one point away from advancing to elimination round at the 2010 World Universities Debating Championships in Turkey.  They also advanced to the semifinal round of the 2010 U.S. Universities Debating Championships in Denver.

Wiley Cason is a freshman debater, with a divine mandate to spread the truth.

Brett started his debating career with the UAA Cabin Fever Debates... an intramural tournament.  Shortly thereafter, he joined the competitive debate team, and in his first year of competition was ranked as thte top novice speaker in the country at the U.S. Universities Debating Championships.  He and Wiley also advanced to the octafinal round of competition at that tournament.

Vasilios "Akis" Gialopsos is currently in his second season as a debater for the Seawolf Debate Team.  Akis is a newcomer to debate in general as well as to the British Parliamentary Format that UAA competes in.  Introduced to the Debate Team through the annual, intramural Cabin Fever Debate tournament, Akis has continued his affiliation with the program ever since.  Akis' current major is in international studies with a minor in communications.

Catherine joined the debate team following her experience with the Cabin Fever intramural tournament this spring.  She was a semifinalist in the 2009 Cabin Fever Debates and a finalist in 2010.  She enjoys debating international issues.

Zac had no exposure to competitive debating prior to the 2008 Cabin Fever Debates.  Excited by the intellectual challenge of Brisith Parliamentary debate, he continued on to join the travelling debate team.  An aviation major, Zac enjoys spending his free time outside.

Amy is a freshman at UAA from Sitka.  Following a tremendous amount of success in Public Forum and extemporaneous speaking, she joined the Seawolf Debate Team in the fall of 2009.  Amy was selected to represent the university at both the Canadian and U.S. national championships in her first season.  She plans to keep debating throughout her time at the university.

Jonathon (pictured at the podium during an exhibition debate) has been debating for 2 1/2 years, shortly after arriving at UAA from the Kenai.  He takes his debating experience with him to law school next fall.

An "amateur" debater from the 2010 Cabin Fever Debtes, she joined the Seawolf Debate Team following this intramural tournament.  Her high school career was sprinkled with brief forays into debate and mock trial.  Now that she's joined the team, she is excited to expand her favorite hobby.

Adrian is an International Studies major on the East Asia tract.  He debated for East Anchorage High School from 2000-2003, and joined the Seawolf Debate Team after competing in the 2010 Cabin Fever Debates.

Amie has been on the team for two years.  She joined the team after competing, and winning, our intramural Cabin Fever Debates in 2008.  Since that time, she won Novice Nationals in 2008 and the Hugill Cup Intervarsity in 2009.  She was selected to represent the university at the 2010 world championships in Turkey.  Most recently, she was a quarterfinalist at the 2010 U.S. Universities Debating Championships and placed 4th Top Speaker in the nation.