ALFRED CHARLES SNIDER – Full vita at http://debate.uvm.edu/ACSVitabig.doc
Alfred C. Snider is the Edwin W. Lawrence Professor of
Forensics at the University of Vermont. He has degrees
from Brown University, Emerson College, and the
University of Kansas. He teaches courses in debate,
argumentation, persuasion and rhetorical analysis. He is
the Director of the World Debate Institute and the
Lawrence Debate Union at the University of Vermont.
Dr. Snider has spent over thirty-nine years promoting
debate and critical communication as an alternative to
violence and conflict as well as a method for achieving
real democracy and a true civil society. He has done formal debate training in over thirty-six
countries (including Botswana, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Estonia,
Finland, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Ireland, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Korea, Kurdistan, Latvia,
Malaysia, Mongolia, Montenegro, Poland, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia,
Thailand, Turkey, USA, Venezuela and Yugoslavia) and has trained debaters from over fifty
nations at the World Debate Institute’s sessions in the USA, Korea, Iraq, Qatar and Slovenia. He
has directed the program of international conferences in Turkey, Estonia and Slovenia attended
by scholars from over thirty-five nations.
Dr. Snider has received every major award given to debate educators in the USA, including the
Pelham Coach of the Year award, the Don Brownlee Service to Debate award, the Ziegelmueller
Debate Coaching award, the Slappey Diversity in Debate award, the Douglas Dedication to
Debate award and the Jacobsohn Service to Debate award. His work in promoting debate has
also brought him awards from Emory University, the University of Utah, Cornell University,
Binghamton University, the University of South Carolina as well as from the National Forensic
League and the Cross Examination Debate Association. In the last nine years he has been very
active in WUDC/BP format debate activities, and has eight times been the training director at the
International Debate Academy held in Europe.
Dr. Snider had published five books on debating in the last few years and during his career has
edited or written over fifty volumes about debating and for debaters. He is the host of the
television program Flashpoint that has now reached 425 episodes and deals with political and
social issues. He was named 2008 Director of the Year by Vermont Community Access Media for
his work on this program. He maintains one of the world’s busiest debate websites, Debate
Central (debate.uvm.edu), and is the editor of Global Debate (globaldebateblog.blogspot.com ).
His debate videos have been viewed by 2.4 million people since 2008. He has pioneered using
the Internet, virtual reality and new media for debating.
Dr. Snider has served as President of the USA’s Cross Examination Debate Association and for
the last ten years has been the Director of Operations for the National Forensic League’s national
high school speech and debate championship, attended by over six thousand people and lasting
one week. He has also been the Director of Operations for the World Schools Debating
Championships in Washington DC in September 2008, attended by 39 countries. He has directed
dozens of debate tournaments in different parts of the world. He has served as a consultant to the
Open Society Institute, the New York Urban Debate League, the National Association for Urban
Debate Leagues, the History Channel, the Associated Leaders of Urban Debate, the International
Debate Education Association, the International Public Policy Forum, Singapore Ministry of
Education, Slovenia Institute of Education and DEBATE-Kansas City.
As a debater for Brown University Dr. Snider was third at the USA National Debate Tournament
and second at the USA National Tournament of Champions, both in 1972.
Dr. Snider’s mottos include “Replacing weapons with words,” and “Think for yourself.”