David Henning

David Henning was a successful Wisconsin high school and college debater. At Sheboygan South High School Dave competed in both policy and L-D debate, winning the Wisconsin State Debate Tournament in L-D and qualifying for NFL Nationals. As a college debater, Dave competed in both NDT and CEDA, debating for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Claremont McKenna College and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Dave won the Wisconsin State College Tournament for both UW-Madison and UW-La Crosse, qualified for CEDA Nationals, and advanced to the final round at the NDT National Novice Debate Tournament. Although Dave has coached debate in the past, his involvement in debate now is primarily as a judge and educator. Dave has appeared as a guest lecturer at a number of local high-school summer debate workshops. Over the past three years Dave has judged over 200 policy debate rounds, including the final round of the Wisconsin State Debate tournament, and he judges a number of other communication activities, including forensics and student congress.

Dave has a BA in History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MA in History from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Dave's MA Thesis, "The Role of the Newspaper in the Development of Professional Football, 1869-1929" combined his interest in mass communication history and his love for the Green Bay Packers. Dave completed his coursework for his PH.D. in Mass Communication History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and although not currently enrolled, is working on his dissertation, "Visions of Television in the Late Nineteenth Century, 1880-1925."

In addition to working on his dissertation and judging, Dave works as both a tutor and freelance researcher, for the city of Sheboygan City Clerk's Office (for elections) and with the Job Center as an interview/resume advisor. Prior to moving to Sheboygan for family reasons, Dave was a Teaching Assistant for six years and worked for both the UWM Department of History and the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Dave has also held a number of non-academic positions, including factory worker, survey researcher and taxi driver.

This will be Dave's first year at the MUDI. Dave brings a unique and diverse blend of experience and ideas to the MUDI and is firmly convinced that debate is, by far, the best educational activity a high school student can participate in. In addition to his strong commitment to debate and his academic pursuits, Dave is interested in free speech and press in America during the eighteenth century and American cultural history more generally. As far as personal interests, Dave likes jazz, Bob Dylan, the original Star Trek and professional wrestling.