Ed Lee III

Ed Lee III, EdD is the Senior Director of Inclusivity for Emory College of Arts and Sciences. With an emphasis on organizational communication, culture formation, and enhanced collaboration, Ed works directly with academic unit chairs to develop and facilitate department/program level programming and discussion on DEI-related issues across the College of Arts & Sciences. This work is driven by a commitment to cultivate workplace and campus encounters that are more participatory, productive, and engaging.

On and off the campus, Ed is a highly sought-after trainer and facilitator whose work focuses on the interplay between communication, culture, and diversity and how those can be harnessed to improve the workplace and other communities. His work seeks to produce tailored and innovative strategies that support an organization’s establish commitment to more inclusive and responsive policies, practices, and procedures.

Additionally, Ed has been the Senior Director of the Alben W. Barkley Forum for Debate Deliberation, and Dialogue which houses Emory’s nationally acclaimed debate team and its cutting-edge dialogue programs. Since its founding as the Phi Gamma Literary Society in 1837, the debate program has served as quintessential example of Emory’s commitment to intellectual curiosity, collaborative decision making, and research informed argumentation.

As Senior Director, Ed was the 2015 Ross K Smith National Coach of the Year and a three-time recipient of the James Unger Award given to the coach of the best debate team in the country. He leads Emory’s debate program that consistently develops nationally ranked debaters while pursuing an access mission that provides the opportunity for debate training to all Emory undergraduates. Before coming to Emory, Ed served as the Director of Debate at the University of Alabama and the Director of UC Berkeley’s Bay Area Urban Debate League.

Ed is a relentless advocate for public debate and dialogue. He is national media commentator for U.S. Presidential Debates and the use of arguments in public discourse. He is routinely seen on national and local media outlet discussing presidential debate strategies and their impact on national politics.

Ed has a Doctorate in Higher Education Management from the University of Georgia’s Institute for Higher Education (IHE), a Master’s degree in Communication Studies from the University of Alabama, and is currently studying the interconnections between religion, justice, and peace building at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology.