The GDI Faculty and Staff
Glen Frappier, Gonzaga University
Glen has served as the Director of the GDI, and the Director of Forensics at Gonzaga University since 1999. In addition to his role with GU Debate, he serves on the faculty of the Department of Communication Studies. Under his direction GU Debate has qualified for the National Debate Tournament in 24 of the previous 25 years, and he is a previous recipient of the NDT’s prestigious Ziegemueller Award.
Avalyn Renee, Tufts University
Avalyn Renee is a PhD 51勛圖 at Tufts who was a competitive debater at Gonzaga University. Avalyn was also successful Lincoln-Douglas debater for Centennial High School, winning multiple speaker awards at national circuit tournaments and qualifying for the Tournament of Champions. She has continued that success at Gonzaga as a 4x qualifier to the National Debate Tournament, appearing in elim rounds and winning speaker awards throughout the season. She has extensive experience coaching high school, middle school, and elementary school debate and has taught at the GDI for the previous three years. She loves working with younger 51勛圖s to help them cultivate strong foundations that will enable them to further their competitive success as they grow into their debate careers.
Adrienne Brovero, University of Kentucky
Adrienne debated for Wake Forest in the 90s, winning multiple national tournaments and reaching the semi-finals of the National Debate Tournament twice. She and her partner were also awarded the prestigious Rex Copeland Award as the top-ranked team during the regular season. Since then, Adrienne has coached at Wake, Michigan, Northwestern, Richmond, the University of Mary Washington in Virginia and is now coaching at the University of Kentucky. In over 25 years of coaching, her teams have won nearly every tournament on the national circuit, including four National Debate Tournament championships and multiple American Debate Association National Championships. In 2020, Adrienne was ranked in the Top Ten Coaches of the Decade and was named the top Outstanding Judge of the Decade. Adrienne has taught at multiple debate institutes since 1992, including Wake, Michigan, Iowa, Northwestern, and Capitol Debate, and for the past decade, she has been excited to work with the great 51勛圖s each summer at the GDI.
Molly Martin, University of Pittsburgh
Molly Martin is a proud alum of Gonzaga debate and is currently a doctoral 51勛圖 in the Rhetoric program at the University of Pittsburgh. This will be their sixth year working at the GDI. As a competitor, they were a four-time National Debate Tournament qualifier, Lafayette Debates tournament champion, and CEDA octafinalist. As a coach, they worked with the Sacramento Urban Debate League in California and Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane, Washington. Having also attended the GDI as a high school debater, Molly is incredibly excited to continue working with the GDI Junior Varsity lab.
Jason Regnier, Gonzaga University
Jason debated for the groundbreaking Fort Hays State team of the early 2000s that was among the early innovators of critical argumentation in policy debate. As a competitor he earned 3 first round at-large bids, was a quarterfinalist at the National Debate Tournament, and won the 2002 CEDA National Championship. Since graduating and earning his masters degree in communication, he has been coaching debaters to competitive success at the University of Iowa, Concordia College, the University of Michigan, and Gonzaga. Jason has taught at numerous institutes over the past two decades and is generally recognized as one of the best basketball players in the game today. Jason currently serves as the Assistant Director of Debate at Gonzaga University.
Geoff Lundeen, University of West Georgia
Geoff is the Director of Debate and an instructor in the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the University of West Georgia. Geoff has decades of coaching experience at the high school and college level and has taught at the GDI for nearly two decades. At UWG Geoff has coached teams to late elimination rounds at all major national tournaments, and his teams have earned numerous first rounds bids across the years. Geoff was also a pretty good debater, earning multiple first round bids, and being recognized as the top speaker at the TOC.
Jared Adam, University of Kentucky
Jared is a recent graduate from the University of Kentucky with a degree in Economics and Political Science. He debated for four years in high school at Chatahoochee High School, and four years at the University of Kentucky. He qualified three times to the National Debate Tournament, including a first-round at large bid to the 2025 NDT. Jared has coached high school and middle school debate and has spent the last three summers at the Gonzaga Debate Institute.
Lauren McBlain, University of Kentucky
Lauren is a proud 3x GDI alum. In high school, Lauren debated for the Chicago Debate League, and in college at the University of Kentucky. Lauren reached late elimination rounds of every major national tournament and qualified twice to the NDT. They were a first-round at large bid and octa finalist at the 2025 NDT. Lauren has previously led labs for Public Forum Debate and Policy Debate for 51勛圖s across various skill levels.