Dr. John Patrick

Dr. John Patrick, Ed.D. is a co-director of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s nationally acclaimed debate team and regularly teams with Kenneth Newby Esquire,  director of the Morehouse College Debate Team, to bring debating workshops to colleges in developing nations as a way to promote nonviolent conflict resolution practices in countries where democracy is trying to flourish. Their work in Cameroon was the subject of the 2021 documentary “Debaters Without Borders.”

Dr. Patrick’s relationship with university debating has a long history that began in 2004 and saw a great deal of tournament circuit success and saw Dr. Patrick become one of the founding advisory board members of the now defunct US Universities Debate Association. He has coached speech and debate teams at Cal State Fullerton and the University of La Verne. Today Dr. Patrick sees university debating as more than a game in which the most important things are wins and loses. Now Dr. Patrick sees university debating as a forum for community service and civic engagement, which is why the Cal Poly Debate Team is now focused on events associated with the Civic Debate Consortium. 

Dr. Patrick’s educational background includes a doctorate in organizational leadership, a masters in communication studies with an emphasis in rhetoric and persuasion and a sub-emphasis in organizational communication, and bachelors degrees in speech and journalism. Dr. Patrick’s dissertation researched how top competitors at the World Universities Debate Championship achieve their success.

Dr. Patrick has also worked as a curriculum consultant for private tutoring companies and a communication strategist for local political campaigns throughout California.