Staff

An Emory Debate alumnae, Mikalea was named the Director of Debate at Emory in 2021.  Prior to coming back to Emory, she was the Director of Debate at Georgetown University and held coaching positions at Wake Forest, the University of Georgia, and Emory.  Mikaela earned her PhD in Communication at the University of Georgia and her Master's at Wake Forest.

Angela joined the Barkley Forum in 2016 from Emory Midtown Utilization Department. Angela is responsible for managing the office and assisting the Director, Associate Director, and coaches with daily operations.  Angela also serves on the Atlanta Urban Debate League staff in the summers.  She has two sons – Jaylen and Chris – and one very hyperactive dog, Cody.  She enjoys talking, writing, and cooking. 

Viveth joined us in 2024 as our Associate Director of Debate. A Barkley Forum alum ('27) who debated all four years, Viveth worked in K-12 education as a Teach for America Corps Member and more recently as Lead Programming Manger with the NYC Urban Debate League. He has also coached at Harvard since 2018, but we are excited to have him back “home” coaching for Emory.

Elysia has been a part of the Atlanta Urban Debate League for 15 years as a participant, volunteer, and staff member, and we are excited to have them as part of the Barkley Forum staff to engage Barkley Forum students with AUDL programming. Elysia graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2021 with a B.A. in sociology.

Gabriel is the Assistant Director of Debate with Emory’s competitive debate team. A former Emory Debater, he was a member of the team from 2016 to 2020, qualifying for the National Debate Tournament twice. After graduating from Emory, he coached part time with Emory while completing an M.A. in history at Villanova University. 

Former visiting faculty member in the Department of Communication at Georgia State University, Kara Grant has been on staff with the Barkley Forum since 2000 and oversees the programs of the Barkley Forum that serve high school students: the Barkley Forum for High Schools speech and debate tournament and the Emory National Debate Institute.  She also engages with our incredible Barkley Forum Alumni group. Earlier in her career with the Barkley Forum, she was Co-director of the Atlanta Urban Debate League and the Georgia Middle School Debate League and has served as an advisor to the National Debate Project, Associated Leaders of Urban Debate, National Association for Urban Debate Leagues, Glenn Pelham Foundation, Miami Dade Urban Debate League, and others in the national urban debate network. She has raised over $1 million in grants and awards for the support of urban education initiatives at Emory.  Kara has a master’s degree in Communication from Wake Forest University.

Lydia Smith is a 2013 graduate of Georgia State University, obtaining a B.S. in Public Policy with a concentration in Nonprofit Leadership. She received her Master of Public Administration degree from Georgia College and State University. Lydia is an Atlanta Urban Debate League alumnae and former Betty J. Maddox Fellow in the Barkley Forum for Debate, Deliberation, and Dialogue.  Lydia currently is the Assistant Director of Campus Engagement in the Barkley Forum. She leads the Emory Conversation Project, advises All Black Emory, and coordinates public debates on campus.

RW is in his second year as a Debate and Dialogue Specialist for Campus Engagement. Having recently graduated from the University ('23), RW takes great pride in supporting Emory’s student communities through the Barkley Forum’s suite of campus engagement programs. Outside of organizing and mobilizing student communities on campus and privately coaching high school debate teams back home in Texas, RW is exploring life as an independent researcher-writer. Check him out.

Ed Lee III is the Senior Director of Inclusivity for Emory College of Arts and Sciences  and the Senior Director Emeritus of the Alben W. Barkley Forum for Debate, Deliberation, and Dialogue (BF), which houses Emory’s nationally acclaimed debate team and its cutting-edge dialogue programs. 

Ed is a relentless advocate for public debate and dialogue. He is a national media commentator for U.S. Presidential Debates and the use of arguments in public discourse. He is routinely seen on CNN discussing presidential debate strategies and their impact on national politics. Additionally, he is the creator of the Emory Conversation Project (ECP), a program that trains students in the art of facilitation and negotiation to equip them to lead public and engaging conversations about and across their differences.  

Ed is a highly sought-after workshop facilitator. His work focuses on the interplay between communication, culture and diversity and how those can be harnessed to improve the workplace and other communities.  

Ed has a Doctorate in Higher Education Management from the University of Georgia’s Institute for Higher Education (IHE), a master’s degree in Communication Studies from the University of Alabama, and is currently studying the interconnections between religion, justice, and peace building at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology.

From 1972 until her retirement in 2015, Melissa Wade oversaw the growth of one of the most dynamic intercollegiate debate and education programs in the U.S. A faculty member in the Division of Educational Studies, Wade was a principle founder of the Urban Debate League, a national education movement targeting secondary students from socio-economically challenged schools in more than 20 major U.S. cities. She coached Emory to over thirty national college championships and received every major college coaching and service award in her field. She worked with international debate outreach in South Korea, Jamaica, and Columbia, and was a visiting faculty member in the graduate division of international studies at Ewha University in Seoul. Wade is one of only 3 university debate coaches in the U.S. who has served on the National Associated Press Presidential Debate Evaluation Panel for every U.S. Presidential election from 1976-2012. She is the President of the Glenn Pelham Foundation for Debate Education.