Judd
Renken received much of his educational trajectory from intercollegiate
debate. Having spent several years debating for the University of
Texas at Austin, he was a first-round at large bid to the National
Debate Tournament and spent two years amongst the top twenty debate
teams in the country. Texas Debate was on the edge of a revolution
in college debate, a “reflexive turn” that opened Judd and many
others to thinkers previously inaccessible in the constraints of
so-called policy debate.
Amongst these thinkers
was Martin Heidegger to whom Judd dedicated much of his graduate
study. While coaching debate at Wake Forest University, Judd earned
a Master’s Degree in Communication (Rhetoric). His thesis focused
on an intervention into college debate judging he called “released
judging.” Adapting Gelassenheit to debate judging, released judging
was an attempt to keep meditative thinking (critical thought) alive
in the space of the debate judge.
After the Wake (or was
it the flood?), Judd moved to Chicago to continue both his love
of debate and his fondness for German thought. DePaul houses one
of the flag ships for American Heidegger Studies with several major
figures gathering to teach there. His thesis again used Heidegger
as a central figure, but this time he worked to contribute to the
blossoming dialogue between Heidegger and Feminism.
At DePaul Judd earned
both an M.A. in Philosophy and certification in Women’s Studies.
After Graduate school, Judd invested himself in teaching.
First, he taught “Public
Speaking and Critical Thinking” at Loyola University. The course
was perfect for his interdisciplinary capacity. He then moved to
community colleges.
Judd has taught at four
different community colleges, taking on ten separate courses in
several different disciplines (english, humanities, philosophy,
communciations, feminism).
Judd lives in Chicago
with his wife, Sammi, who is an extremely successful medical malpractice
attorney.
|
