Erika M. Thomas is the co-Director of Forensics and an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Communication Studies. She has been in the position since 2010. She teaches a variety of speech communication courses and directs and coaches the nationally competitive intercollegiate speech and debate team. She started competing in speech and debate activities while in high school, continued in college, and coached teams throughout her Ph.D. program at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. She earned her Ph.D. in 2011. Thomas’ areas of study, in addition to forensics and argumentation, include critical/cultural rhetorical criticism and theory with a specific interest in representations, gender, and queer studies). Dr. Thomas will MC the event and her current members of the speech and debate team will perform their interpretive pieces or debate.