Dr. Jacobsen is the Director of Forensics and University Forum at the University of Oregon and a career NTTF member of the Robert D. Clark Honors College faculty.

A product of Eugene schools and an Oregon alum (’02), Jacobsen holds a doctorate in Information Science (’14) from the University of Michigan School of Information. At Michigan he was the lead or secondary author on papers published in Archival Science, Government Information Quarterly, and Computer Supported Cooperative Work.

Jacobsen’s dissertation The Identity of Evidence: Documentary Evidence in the Federal Acknowledgement Process analyzes the use and interpretation of documentary evidence in an administrative proceeding the Office of Federal Acknowledgment uses to determine whether petitioning American Indian groups merit tribal status under federal law.

His work at Michigan and prior professional experiences in college forensics, political campaigns, and as a librarian demonstrate a deep interest in how scholarly knowledge is produced, disseminated, preserved, and used, particularly in argumentative contexts. He has studied these processes in such specialized contexts as legal proceedings, scholarly communications networks, laboratories, political campaigns, cultural heritage institutions, and debate competitions.

Jacobsen competed in CEDA debate from 1988-1992 at the University of Oregon, making it twice to quarterfinals at nationals, including 3rd speaker his senior year. In six years of high school and college debate Jacobsen failed to break only twice and broke at all four nationals he attended. Jacobsen won the Northwest CEDA Championship his junior year earning 177 out of 180 possible speaker points. While competing for Oregon, Jacobsen won multiple tournaments every year and earned many top speaker awards. As a debate instructor, Jacobsen helped lead strong teams to national success at Cornell, Vermont, Oregon, and Alaska. Since arriving at Oregon in 2013 his teams include the top seed going after preliminary rounds and the Top Speaker at the 2014 NPTE. The program was 4th in sweepstakes at the 2015 NPDA nationals and one team was 3rd place at the 2015 NPTE national championship tournament.

Steve Clemmons
Assistant Director of Forensics

Steve Clemmons joins the University of Oregon with over twenty-five years of involvement in academic debate as a competitor and educator of both high school and college students. Before coming to Eugene, Steve was a Director of Forensics and Teacher at Skyline HS (Oakland, CA) and the college debate coach at Santa Clara University. Clemmons is pursuing his Master’s at the School of Education, a program ranked in the top-10 nationally.

Clemmons twice attended the NDT (top-twenty speaker) and was a three-time participant at CEDA Nationals (octa-finalist twice and a top-twenty speaker) and participated twice at NPDA Nationals (twice in the elimination rounds, semifinalist, top ten speaker)

Clemmons coached High School National Champions in Congress, Extemporaneous Speaking and Lincoln Douglas debate, and qualified dozens of students to the Tournament of Champions, and over a hundred students to the California State Tournament. His college students have qualified multiple times to the NDT and NPTE National Tournament, with wins at most of the major national tournaments in policy debate and parliamentary debate.

Ben Dodds
Forensics Coordinator

Ben Dodds has been a part of Oregon forensics for over a decade. He debated for Ashland (OR) High School from 2000- 2004 and was the 2004 state policy champion. Dodds attended Gonzaga University before transferring to Oregon where his debate achievements included appearing in an NPDA final round and finishing 5th at NPTE. He was ranked first in the country after winning three of the largest tournaments and three first-place speaker awards (2008-2009). As a competitor and coach, Dodds has been with Oregon for five national championship rounds, a sweepstakes national championship and coached two outright national champions. He was the most preferred judge at the 2011 NPTE national tournament. Dodds also helps direct the Lane Debate League in the Eugene/Springfield area.