UA Alum Ty Warren Brings National Recognition to Forensics Program

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Ty Warren, a University of Alabama graduate from Enterprise who now runs a successful consulting and training firm, has brought acclaim to his alma mater by being named National Speaker of the Year by Delta Sigma Rho-Tau Kappa Alpha National Forensics (debate) Honor Society, its highest award.

Dr. Frank Thompson, UA’s director of forensics, presented the award to his long-time friend Warren at the DSR-TKA National Conference at Ole Miss, where Warren founded the school’s forensics program.

Warren met Thompson as a UA senior in the late 1970s when his wife, LaVone, was assistant teaching at Tuscaloosa County High School. Thompson, then a teacher at the high school, asked LaVone to help him with the school’s debate team program. Ty volunteered too and the couple entered the team in their first competition, the state tournament, where they took home third place. From then on, Thompson focused on the forensics team.

“When I met Ty Warren, it changed the direction of my life,” Thompson said. Thompson taught high school for seven years before being hired at UA. Thompson is now in his 27th year at UA and under his leadership UA Forensics Teams have won 16 national championships.

“Alabama’s program stands out because of its strength in both individual and debate competitions. Not many top teams can be champions in both,” Ty Warren added.

At UA, Warren majored in broadcast journalism and was a member of the UA Debate Team. He also worked as news director and sports director at WTBC/WUOA. Upon graduation, he became the public affairs producer for Alabama Public Television.

Warren’s contributions to college debate continued when he accepted a position at Ole Miss in University Public Relations. While there, he started the first Ole Miss Debate Team which celebrated its 30-year reunion with the DSR-TKA Conference in March. During Warren’s four years as director of forensics his students won seven individual national championships and one student was named National Student Speaker of the Year.

Warren is past president of the Capstone Society, the University of Alabama’s alumni association for graduates of the College of Communication and Information Sciences. He was named National Alumnus of the Year in 1992 by UA’s speech department.

Today, Warren is the founder and president of Saviuum LLC, a comprehensive consulting and training firm with offices in Birmingham, Chicago, Eugene, Ore., and Jackson, Miss. He has worked as a speaker and consultant in 50 states and seven countries.