Expertise Summary

Expert in debating, argumentation, advocacy, political communication and public diplomacy

Additional Information

• In his role as the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, Annenberg student affairs includes Advisement and Academic Services (for undergraduate and graduate students), Career Development, International Programs and Civic Engagement.
  • He supervises the professionals that comprise each of these teams.
  • The goal of Annenberg’s student affairs programming is to help each student maximize their USC experience.
• Stables teaches a number of courses and embraces innovation in his classroom at USC. His teaching explores a range of approaches to the study of public argument. He teaches a rotation of courses that explore rhetoric, argumentation, debate, political communication, political deliberation, propaganda and global media.
• Stables is is the director of USC Annenberg’s International Communication Studies (ICS) program. ICS is USC Annenberg’s oldest international program and it provides students with an opportunity to travel across Europe and North Africa and meet with executives from a wide range of communication, journalism and public relations professionals. Past programs have visited the BBC World Service, the OECD, Vatican Radio and TV, independent journalists in Turkey and the Czech Foreign Ministry.
• Under Stables’ direction the nationally recognized Trojan Debate Squad has developed into a program with three primary initiatives. Gordon oversees each of these efforts, directs the Trojan Debate scholarship program, and works with USC and Annenberg admissions to attract new students to USC.
  • USC holds several national records for intercollegiate competition and is the only university to qualify for the National Debate Tournament every year since 1964.
• Vice President of the American Forensics Association, the professional association for intercollegiate speech and debate instructors.
• Past president of the Cross Examination Debate Association.
• In 2011, Stables became the youngest debate professional (and only the 3rd person ever) to be recognized with the highest career service awards from both national debate organizations.
• Has worked with several television productions of debate events and provides news commentary for political campaign debates.
• Has been involved in the planning, judging or implementation of public debates in a number of settings, including with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and The Walter and Leonore Annenberg Presidential Learning Center, The Environmental Protection Agency, the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of Natural History, UCLA’s Hammer Theater, General (Ret.) Tommy Frank’s IDebate Initiative, the TNT program King of the Nerds.