John Patrick, Ed.D., is a co-director of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s nationally acclaimed debate team and regularly brings debating workshops to developing nations where democracy is trying to flourish. His work in Cameroon with Kenneth Newby Esq. was the subject of the 2021 documentary “Debaters Without Borders.” Dr. Patrick was a national and international champion debater as an undergrad and one of the founding advisory board members of the US universities Debate Association. Today Dr. Patrick sees university debating as a site not only for competition, but also experiential learning, community service, and civic engagement. This This is reflected in his work with the Civic Debate Consortium, where he currently seeks to take students debating about environmental policy out of the classroom and into America’s national parks, public lands, and wild spaces.