Nicky Smith

Nicky holds a PhD in Philosophy and a Master of Arts in Sociology from UC San Diego and UC Berkeley. At UC Berkeley, Nicky taught UC Berkeley Masters and Undergraduate students for almost a decade including in Communications, Political Science, Global Studies, and History. Nicky graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Science in Education and Social Policy.

Nicky was Clinton Fellow, Udall Scholar, Humanity in Action Fellow, and Critical Language Scholar. At Northwestern, Nicky co-founded a debate and advocacy association and completed additional scholarly and advocacy work at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, Universidad Panamericana, Tongji University, and the University of Jordan. Nicky has 19 years of experience coaching and competing in Debate, with multiple state championships and late elimination rounds at the nation's most prestigious tournaments, including Harvard, Valley, the NSDA/NFL National Championship, and the Grand National Tournament.

Last year, Nicky taught debate for the advanced lab at the Stanford National Forensic Institute, for James Logan High School (winning the top two awards at the 2022 National tournament), and for the Online Debate Institute. Nicky specializes in case construction, rebuttal speeches and rhetorical skills, adapting to a variety of judges (traditional/circuit/different regions), extemporaneous argumentation, unique kritiks, and building on intersectional perspectives that can expand the Forensics arena. Nicky has led and looks forward to continuing to lead countless students to use debate to become more engaged in the classroom and articulate, informed, and active leaders in their schools and wider communities.

Education

• Intercampus Scholar University of California, Berkeley (2012 — 2019)
• Doctor of Philosophy - PhD UC San Diego (2011 — 2019)
• Master of Arts - MA UC San Diego (2011 — 2013)
• Bachelor of Education - BEd Northwestern University (2005 — 2009)

Companies

• Debate Coach/Judge Multiple National Debate Programs (2005)
• Debate Judge Democratize Forensics (2020 — 2021)
• History Instructor Amethod Public Schools (2020 — 2020)
• History Department Reader UC San Diego (2019 — 2019)
• Reader University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business (2018 — 2019)
• Campaign Manager/Educator/Recruiter University of California Graduate Worker Union (2011 — 2019)
• Researcher University of California, Berkeley - School of Law (2018 — 2019)
• Facilitator/Researcher/Ambassador LoveYourBrain (2017 — 2019)
• Reader UC Berkeley Extension (2016 — 2019)