Donn W. Parson

Donn W. Parson

Donn W. Parson (Ph.D, University of Minnesota, 1964) is a Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Kansas and the former Director of Forensics at the University of Kansas from 1964 to 1988, during which period he led KU to three national championships. Parson has had a significant influence on the development American intercollegiae debate.^{[citation needed]}

Championships

Parson coached KU to National Debate Tournament(NDT) championship in 1970, 1976, and 1983. Under Parson, KU also had five NDT semi-finals appearances.^[1] Parson previously coached the University of Minnesota to the finals of the NDT in 1963, losing to Dartmouth College.^[2]

Debate Awards

Parson was named Coach of the Year by the National Debate Tournament in 1980 and Outstanding Coach of the Decade for the 1970s by the American Debate Coaches^{[citation needed]}. Parson also received the Coach of the Year Award presented by Georgetown University (1971), the Coach of the Year Award presented by the University of Utah (1974), the Distinguished Coaching Award presented by Emory University (1980), and the Coach of the Year Award presented by Baylor University (1981), the Lucy Keele Award for contributions to collegiate forensics by the NDT Board of Trustees (1996), and the George Ziegelmueller Award for Contributions to American Debate (2003). (^[3]

Teaching Awards

In 1968, Parson received the Outstanding Young Teacher Award from the Central States Communication Association (CSCA)^{[citation needed]}. He also received the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching (1983), the Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence (1997), and the Outstanding Educator in Argumentation and Debate Award from CSCA (1999).^[4] In 2001, he received the Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award from the Center for Teaching Excellence and was named Outstanding Graduate Mentor by the graduate students of the Department of Communication Studies in 2002^{[citation needed]}. In 2006, Parson received the Chancellor's Club Career Teaching Award.^[5]

General Recognition

Parson has been recognized for his accomplishments by the Kansas State Legislature and named Distinguished Kansan by both the Wichita Eagle (1988) and the WREN-Topeka (1987).^{[citation needed]}

Other Positions

Parson was department chair for the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Kansas (1970–1979, 1987) and is the current graduate director for the department. Parson also served as Director of the National Debate Tournament for thirteen years.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ http://groups.wfu.edu/NDT/HistoricalLists/winners.html
2. ^ http://www.americanforensics.org/history/awards/ndt_champs.html
3. ^ http://www.coms.ku.edu/~coms/faculty/cv/2007_01_26_09_21_27.pdf
4. ^ http://www2.ku.edu/~coms3/pressroom/parson_wins.shtml
5. ^ http://www.news.ku.edu/2006/october/9/chancellorsclub.shtml

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Name	Parson, Donn W.
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