NCA/AFA Summer Conference
on Argumentation		 Flower
Alta Conference Home Page 2025 Conference Past Research Awarding Excellence Organization

Awarding Excellence in Research

SENIOR SCHOLAR AWARD

Our Senior Scholar Award is given to individuals in recognition for a lifetime of contributions to research in the study of argument.

2007 Malcolm Sillars, University of Utah
2009 David Zarefsky, Northwestern University
2011 Bruce Gronbeck, University of Iowa

Frans Van Eemeren, University of Amsterdam
2013 G. Thomas Goodnight, University of Southern California

James F. Klumpp, University of Maryland
2015 Dennis Gouran, Pennsylvania State University
2017 Donn W. Parson, University of Kansas

Robert C. Rowland, University of Kansas
2019 Susan Klein, Ohio State University

Carol Winkler, Georgia State University

McGEE OUTSTANDING GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH AWARD

The Michael Calvin McGee Award is given for the outstanding graduate student research presented at each conference. The award is chosen by that conference's program selection committee.

2005 Sarak K. Burgess, University of California, Berkeley

"Transitional Bodies of Law: The Demand for Recognition in the United Kingdom's Gender Recognition Act."
2007 Frank Zenker, University of Hamburg

"Complexity Without Insight: Ceteris Paribus Clauses in Assessing Conducive Argumentation."
2009 Ryan Solomon, University of Wisconsin, Madison

"Shame on You Mbeki! The Problem of Denialism in South African AIDS Discourse."
2011 Laura Alberti, University of Southern California

"Remembering the Lion of the Desert: Visual Rhetoric and Argument in the Contemporary Public Sphere."
2013 Mathew Bost, University of Minnesota

"Arguing for Emptiness: Community in the Debate Over Rhetoric and Love."
2015 Emma Frances Bloomfield, University of Southern California

"Argumentation in the Identity Politics of the Selfie: Substituting Narcissus’s Reflection for Pygmalion’s Partner"
2017 Jeremy David Johnson, Pennsylvania State University
2019 Junyi Lv, University of Southern California
  "Local Argument Spheres in China: A Case Study of the Chinese Debate Show:Qupashuo"

 

Our Past Directors and Keynote Speakers

Year Conference Directors Keynote Speakers
1979 Jack Rhodes David Zarefsky


Bruce Gronbeck


Scott Nobles
1981 George Ziegelmueller Stephen Toulmin
1983 David Zarefsky Wayne Brockriede
1985 J. Robert Cox Micheal C. McGee


Charles A. Willard
1987 Joseph Wenzel Micheal Leff


Frans H. van Eemeren
1989 Bruce Gronbeck Sally Jackson
1991 Donn Parson G. Thomas Goodnight
1993 Raymie E. McKerrow Joseph Wenzel
1995 Sally Jackson Malcolm Sillars
1997 James F. Klumpp David Zarefsky


Bruce Gronbeck (Plenarist)
1999 Thomas A. Hollihan Walter R. Fisher
2001 G. Thomas Goodnight Catherine H. Palczewski
2003 Charles A. Willard Thomas B. Farrell


Lenore Langsdorf
2005 Patricia Riley James F. Klummp
2007 Scott Jacobs Fred Kauffeld
2009 Dennis Gouran Dale Hample
2011 Robert Rowland Thomas A. Hollihan
2013 Catherine H. Palczewski Carol Winkler
2015 Randall Lake Carole Blair and V. William Balthrop
2017 Carol Winkler Robert Asen
2019 Dale Hample Ronald Greene
2025
 Ronald Walter Greene
 Dalip Gonchar