Dr. Trond Jacobsen — Director of Forensics and University Forum, University of Oregon
Dr. Jacobsen is the Director of Forensics and University Forum at the University of Oregon and a career NTTF member of the Robert D. Clark Honors College faculty.
A product of Eugene schools and an Oregon alum (’02), Jacobsen holds a doctorate in Information Science (’14) from the University of Michigan School of Information, the top such school in the world. His academic work at Michigan and his prior professional experiences in college forensics, political campaigns, and as a law librarian reveal an abiding interest in how scholarly knowledge is produced, disseminated, preserved, and used, particularly in argumentative or adversarial contexts. He has studied these processes in such specialized contexts as legal proceedings, scholarly communications networks, laboratories, political campaigns, cultural heritage institutions, and debate competitions. Jacobsen is the lead or secondary author on papers published in Archival Science, Government Information Quarterly, and Computer Supported Cooperative Work, the top journals in their respective fields. He also authored numerous papers for invited presentations to conferences across America and in Canada and Turkey.
Dr. Jacobsen’s dissertation The Identity of Evidence: Documentary Evidence in the Federal Acknowledgement Process analyzes how petitioning tribes mobilize records and federal officials interpret those records as documentary evidence in an administrative proceeding used to determine whether the petitioners merit tribal status under federal law [video summary].
Jacobsen competed in CEDA debate from 1988-1992 at the University of Oregon, making it twice to quarterfinals at nationals, including 3rd speaker his senior year. His senior year he finished 3rd and was 2nd speaker at the elite Jesuit Round Robin. In six years of high school and college debate Jacobsen failed to break only twice and broke at all four nationals he attended. Jacobsen won the Northwest CEDA Championship his junior year earning 177 out of 180 possible speaker points. While competing for Oregon, Jacobsen won multiple tournaments every year and earned more than two dozen 1st speaker awards. As a debate instructor, Jacobsen helped lead strong teams to national success at Cornell, Vermont, Oregon, and Alaska. Since arriving at Oregon in 2013, his teams include the top seed after preliminary rounds and the Top Speaker at the 2014 NPTE. The program was 4th in sweepstakes at the 2015 NPDA nationals and one team was 3rd place at the 2015 NPTE national championship tournament.
Jacobsen has consistently demonstrated a commitment to the highest standards of scholarship, a belief in the potential of argument and reason to produce justice and reconciliation, and a proven ability to help students achieve great competitive success balanced with healthy intellectual growth and development.