Dr. Allan Louden- Director, Allan is an associate professor at Wake Forest University, where he serves as Director of Debate. Dr. Louden has a Ph. D. from the University of Southern California and has published in political communication and argumentation theory. Wake Forest Debate squad is regularly among the nation’s top ten programs. Occasionally, Allan consults with political campaigns and keeps company with a precocious golden retriever!

Dr. Linda Petrou - Administrator, Linda received her Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Maryland. She has taught courses on American Government, Comparative Government, US Foreign Policy, and International Security. Currently she is teaching Public Speaking, Small Group Communication, and Introduction to Communication as an Adjunct at WFU. Petrou participated in the Southeast Europe Youth Leadership Institution in 2004 and 2005; in 2006 and 2007 she was BFTF administrative director. She is active in local, state, and national politics and is planning on attending the GOP National Convention in Minneapolis. In her spare time she hangs out with her cats Puskhin, Milhous and Reagan.

Dr. John Dinan – Curriculum Director, John is Zachary Smith Associate Professor of Political Science at Wake Forest University, and holds a Ph.D. in Government from the University of Virginia. He is the author of Keeping the People’s Liberties: Legislators, Citizens, and Judges as Guardians of Rights (1998), and The American State Constitutional Tradition (2006). He has taught courses in U.S. politics, constitutional law, federalism, and campaigns and elections, among other subjects.

Scott Freese - Home Stay Coordinator- Scott serves as the Campus Minister and Director of the “International Campus Ministries of the Triad” in Winston-Salem/High Point & Jamestown. Scott, with his family (wife Syndie and their two sons, Matt and Stephen), served in “Campus Ministry” for eight years in the Southern part of Brazil (in Goias, and Santa Catarina) as Christian missionaries.

Ross K. Smith - Instructor - Ross Smith is the Director of Debate at Wake Forest University. His debate teams have won two national championships (1997 & 2008); he has twice been named national coach of the year. He has researched and/or edited twenty policy debate research guides on subjects including foreign policy towards Russia and China, global environmental issues, law, and education. He has developed a blog www.argundoclass.com, for use in teaching his Debate and Advocacy course at Wake Forest and has had blog posts reach national prominence at the nation’s most visited political blog, DailyKos.

Dr. Gordon Mitchell - Instructor - is an Associate Professor and Director of Debate in the Department of Communications at the University of Pittsburgh. His academic work focuses on rhetoric of science, public argument, and argumentation pedagogy. Mitchell is author of the award-winning book Strategic Deception: Rhetoric, Science and Politics in Missile Defense Advocacy (Michigan State University Press, 2000), and co-author of Hitting First: Preventive Force in U.S. Security Strategy (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2006). As director of Debate University of Pittsburgh Mitchell has led teams to national championships and moderated some 60 public debates. He is a recipient of the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award (2001) and the Bellet Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (2000). In 1999, he designed the initial public debate curriculum for the Southeast Europe Youth Leadership Institute, which he helped refine and implement in teaching stints from 2000-2005 in Baltimore and Winston-Salem.

Dr. Alessandra Beasley - Instructor - Alessandra focuses on theories of post-national citizenship, particularly analyzing the debates over the inclusion of Third Country Nationals as European Union citizens. She defended her dissertation “Caught Between History and Imagination: The Arguments for Post-National European Union Citizenship,” at the University of Pittsburgh, in January 2007.

Dr. Nate French- Instructor - Nate is a faculty membver at Christopher Newport University in Virginia. His specialization include media, rhetoric, critical studies, social movements. He is married to Camille and they have two beautiful daughters. His Ph.D. is from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Aila Lonka - Alumni Mentor - Aila returns to the staff after being a 2006 Fellow from Denmark. She organized a BFTF reunion in Denmark last summer. This fall, Aila will start studying Political Science at the University of Copenhagen.

Odile Hobeika - Mentor -OD is a veteran of the 2006 Ben Franklin program. She brings the most enthusiasm to the three weeks possible. She has traveled widely including a research trip to Lebanon. She spent spring semester in London at the Wake Forest House. OD is from Merrimack New Hampshire.

Rohit Nath - Mentor - is a Senior at Wake Forest. He debates, has worked in governmental offices, study abroad in London in 2008 and is a Politics/Economics major and hails from Phoenix Arizona.

Kelsi Steele - Mentor - Kelsi is a Junior at the University of Montana. Her major is International Relations & Comparative Politics with a minor in Spanish. Kelsi’s objectives include attending law school to eventually specialize in human rights litigation. She was a Ben Franklin Fellow in 2006 and an Alumni Mentor last summer..

Megan Foelsch - Mentor - Megan is going to be a junior at Ft. Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, majoring in Political Science, and Minoring in Photography. She received an Associate of Arts degree in Outdoor Education from Northern Colorado University in May. Megan also worked on Obama’s campaign and helped to organize the Student’s for Obama Club on her campus. She is also Vice President of Amnesty International on her campus. Megan was a Ben Franklin Fellow in 2006 and an Alumni Mentor in 2007. She is pictured with her pal Ben.