Biography

Jacob Thompson — affiliate professor in the department of communication studies — is an expert on presidential and political campaign debates, persuasion, argumentation theory and practice, and the rhetoric of American foreign policy. Thompson is also the former head coach of UNLV's nationally recognized, award-winning debate team. Under his leadership, UNLV's debate team was consistently ranked among the best teams in the nation. In 2018, Thompson received the George Ziegelmueller "coach of the year" award and in 2020 he was recognized as the Ross K. Smith "national coach of the year" by the National Debate Tournament.

Thompson also played an important role in the third presidential debate in 2016 that took place at UNLV, serving on multiple university committees that organized debate-related activities, and participating in over 100 interviews as a university media expert on presidential debates. He currently serves as UNLV's director of general education and undergraduate curriculum.