Stephen Llano studies rhetoric, argumentation and debate. His
research interests include the pedagogy of debate, argumentation
theory, contemporary rhetorical theory, Kenneth Burke, poetics and
argumentation, and rhetorical criticism. He is currently interested
in studying debate online, which he calls “disembodied debating.”
He also studies the relationship between the discourses of poetry
and argumentation, specifically examining the work of the Beat
Generation.
Professor Llano is the director of the St. John’s University Debate
Society, an international debating team that specializes in the
British Parliamentary debate style. The team earned third in the
Northeast U.S. Sweepstakes in its first year of competition, 2008.
The team regularly competes nationally and internationally and is
open to all St. John’s University students.
Llano has been involved in debate since he was 15 years old,
participating in high school policy debate in the great state of
Texas. He attended Texas A&M University and helped to found
their NPDA program. Steve became the Director of Debate at A&M
Consolidated High School
after graduation where his students achieved success in
Lincoln-Douglas and Cross-examination style debating at the state
and national level, qualifying for the T.O.C., NFL Nationals, and
winning the Texas state championship in cross examination debate.
Steve served as assistant
debate coach at the University of Rochester where in 2002 the team
took first in the NDT sweepstakes rankings. He has also worked as
an assistant coach at the University of Pittsburgh, and as a
faculty member at the World Debate Institute at the University of
Vermont.
Prof. Llano is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Pittsburgh
and holds an M.A. in Rhetoric from Syracuse University. His B.A. is
from Texas A&M University.