Contribution to Northwest University

Over the last twelve months, I have provided a wide range of learning opportunities for Northwest University students that involved interacting with alumni as well as people in our community and even overseas.

These learning opportunities not only benefit the students in their own growth as educated people, but also contribute to the university’s need to improve relations with alumni and to become better known as a quality institution of learning in our region.

January, 13—14.  Clackamas, Oregon City.  The debate team won a semi finals award. Alumnus Nathan Novak served as our judge. http://eagle.northwestu.edu/academic/artsci/faculty/ggillespie/debate%20news,%20Precious%20metals,%20sp%202006.htm

January. 31. Eagle Debaters Appear on Kirkland's KGOV Television for a debate on Energy.  Four students debated environmental protection. The debate was streamed for access on demand on the Internet.  http://kirkland.granicus.com/ViewSearchResults.php?view_id=9&keywords=debate

February. 10. OSU, Corvallis, Oregon. Debaters win a semi finalist award at a tournament at Oregon State University. http://eagle.northwestu.edu/academic/artsci/faculty/ggillespie/news,%20debaters_win_at_osu%20sp%202006.htm

February.24. Hatfield Debate Tournament, Willamette University, Salem, OR.  One team is the only undefeated team in pre-elimination rounds, coming home with fourth place.  http://eagle.northwestu.edu/academic/artsci/faculty/ggillespie/debate%20news,%20Willamette%202006%20top_of_the_world_eagle_debaters.htm

March 5 – 15. International Forensics Association, Prague. I took seven students for the ten-day trip over spring break. Alumnus Paul Nystrom served as our judge. I raised more than $4,000 for the trip. More than half of the costs were funded by student fees.  http://eagle.northwestu.edu/academic/artsci/faculty/ggillespie/debate%20news,%20Prague%20report.htm

April  5. Debate Team Captain Jordan Goddard accepted to Harvard Law School. Jordan reports that my letter of recommendation and his experience on the team helped him get into Harvard. http://eagle.northwestu.edu/academic/artsci/faculty/ggillespie/Debate%20news,%20Jordan%20at%20Harvard.htm

May 6.  Gideon Copple is student speaker for 2006 Commencement service. He is the fifth Eagle Debater chosen for this honor. I spent hours helping him prepare for the speech. He also reports that debate made a significant contribution to his university experience. http://eagle.northwestu.edu/academic/artsci/majors/communication/News,%20Gideon's%20speech%20out_of_the_salt_shaker__a_commen.htm

August 1 – 7. Backpacking Trip with two students. While we didn’t get enough to make for a Physical Education course as planned, I went ahead and took the students on the hike, which turned out to be memorable. My cousin, Major Brent Gillespie, gave teachings on wilderness survival each morning. I wrote an essay about the hike and submitted it to Backpacker Magazine.  http://eagle.northwestu.edu/academic/artsci/faculty/ggillespie/Mountaineering%20Club/Mountaineering%20Club,%20surviving_the_pasayten,%202006.htm

September 14 – 17. Travel Director for Anthropology of Northwest Native Peoples. This was the second year of the highly successful travel course to Victoria, Canada studying the culture and communication of native peoples. I designed the concept and Forrest Inslee taught it. This year we involved Suzan Kobashigawa who also presented lectures. 18 students, mostly communication majors, benefited from this intensive course. Report: http://eagle.northwestu.edu/academic/artsci/faculty/ggillespie/Headwaters,%20report%20of%202006%20class.htm

September 27. Hosted a World Format Debate Workshop on our campus. Thirty-two students and coaches from five regional colleges and universities attended the one day event that included practice rounds and lectures by an experience World debate coach, Jason Sandford. I recruited Jason to serve as our assistant coach. After expenses, fees generated $700 to cover costs for tournaments.

November 3, 4. Ten students attend the Lower Columbia College debate tournament. Team wins a second place award. http://eagle.northwestu.edu/academic/artsci/faculty/ggillespie/Debate,%20news,%20fall%202006%20double_the_pleasure.htm

November 8 – 19. Seven students on the debate team travel to the United Kingdom for debate tournaments at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. I recruited Alumni Director Rosemarie Kowalski and assistant coach Jason Sandford to lead the group. I raised $6,400 in donations (not including student fees) for this and the World tournament. Report: http://eagle.northwestu.edu/academic/artsci/faculty/ggillespie/Debate,%20news,%20UK%20tour,%20Fall%202006%20eagle_debaters_and_the_goblet_of.htm

December 27 – January 4, 2007. Six students competed at the World Universities Debating Championship at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Assistant coach Jason Sanford and I served as judges. Report: http://eagle.northwestu.edu/academic/artsci/faculty/ggillespie/Debate,%20Worlds%20report.htm

January 4 and 5, 2007. After Worlds we invited two top debaters from Oxford University for three debates with NU debaters. The first debate was at the Redmond City Hall on Thursday afternoon. The second debate was at the Kirkland City Hall that evening. Both debates were broadcast on cable television for the community to watch live and by streaming on the Internet. On Friday we debated Oxford before an audience of the Microsoft PAC on the Microsoft campus. Report: http://eagle.northwestu.edu/academic/artsci/faculty/ggillespie/Debate,%20show_debates_simply_smashing.htm

Scholarship and Professional Achievements

April 15. Peer reviewed article on abortion rhetoric is published. Gillespie, Gary "Moral Relativism in Pro-Choice Rhetoric: a Reply to Stephan Sullivan,"  Values Newsletter, A Publication of The Highlands Center for Faculty Initiatives at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Edinboro, PA. Vol. 13, Issue 2, Spring 2006, pp 1 – 4. http://hcfi.edinboro.edu/Publications/ValuesNewsletter/Values%20Newsletter-Spring-'06.pdf

September 9. Presented a brief paper at the Northwest Forensics conference debate coaches meeting at the Boise State University in Boise, Idaho. The paper described my philosophy of coaching and how our program relates to the mission of Northwest University. http://eagle.northwestu.edu/academic/artsci/faculty/ggillespie/Debate,%20NFC,%20educational_goals%20paper,%209%202006.htm

September 24. Posted the World Debate Resource Page, a collection of articles and links to help students prepare for the World Universities Debating Championships in Vancouver after Christmas. I researched and designed the page as a feature of our workshop. http://eagle.northwestu.edu/academic/artsci/faculty/ggillespie/Debate,%20World's%20Debate%20Resource%20Page%202.htm

November 21. Elected to the three person executive board of the Northwest Intercollegiate Debate League, an organization of 19 regional institutions devoted to debate formats that are accessible for a general audience. Designed the NIDL web page. http://eagle.northwestu.edu/debate/

 

November 28. Devoted ten hours researching and writing Northwest University Communication Major Assessment Plan.