Keynote Speaker: Rep. Leslie Herod
Leslie Herod was recently elected to the State House of Representatives representing House District 8. Located in Northeast Denver, House District 8 is the most diverse district in Denver and has the highest number of registered Democrats in the state. Representative Herod is a graduate from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She was elected President of the Student Union’s Legislative Council where she made it her mission to create a campus climate that was inclusive of all students regardless of race, class, sexual orientation, gender or ability. As Legislative Council President, she managed the Student Union’s $36 million dollar budget.
Upon graduating college, Representative Herod continued public service work at the Colorado State Capitol. With that experience she went on to serve as a Senior Policy Advisor to Governor Bill Ritter, Jr., specializing in social services, criminal justice, mental health, and anti-poverty issues. After leaving the Governor’s office, Representative Herod became a Program Officer with the Gill Foundation where she led philanthropic initiatives focusing on LGBT equality and alliance-building in communities of color. She now owns her own small business where she continues to serve the community through strategic planning and community partnership consulting.
Representative Herod has served on multiple community boards and commissions, including serving as gubernatorial appointee to the state's Judicial Performance Commission and as a mayoral appointee to Denver's Cultural Affairs Commission. Additionally, Representative Herod has served on the Board of Directors for Urban Peak, Colorado's leading homeless youth service agency. She is also a co-founder of New Era Colorado, the state's leading organization focused on the engagement of young people in our community and served as President of Colorado Black Women for Political Action.
She serves on the House committees of Judiciary, Finance and Legal Services. In her first term, she has focused her legislative efforts on access to reproductive health care, homeless youth, criminal justice reform, immigration rights and supporting Colorado entrepreneurs
Denver Urban Debate League’s
2017 Annual Awards Banquet & Fundraiser: May 13, 2017, 6:30pm* University of Denver Driscoll Ballroom
*Please plan to check-in by 6:15pm
DUDL Students, Coaches, and Honored Guests receive complimentary admission, plus one complimentary guest. DUDL supporters may purchase individual tickets, or sponsor tables (giving levels below) with all proceeds going directly to the Denver Urban Debate League.
To RSVP or Purchase tickets, please click on the "Register Now" button directly below. DEADLINE: MAY 5th
Register Now!
Individual Ticket: $100 ($75 of contribution is tax-deductible)
Individual Sponsor: $250 -- 1 seat, plus sponsor seats for two students ($225 is tax-deductible)
Special Individual Ticket for College/High School Students, Teachers, and DUDL 2015-16 Volunteers -- $25
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Gold Table Sponsor At this level, table sponsorship includes 4 premium seats for you and your guests and also sponsors seats for students. $1,400 of the donation is tax-deductible.
Giving Level: $1,500 |
Silver Table Sponsor At this level, table sponsorship includes 4 high-quality seats for you and your guests and also sponsors seats for students. $1,100 of the donation is tax-deductible.
Giving Level: $1200
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Bronze Table Sponsor At this level, table sponsorship includes 4 seats for you and your guests and also sponsors seats for students. $800 of the donation is tax-deductible.
Giving Level: $900
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Congratulations to DUDL's 2017 Hall of Fame Inductee
Dean Catherine Smith, University of Denver Sturm College of LawAssoc Dean of Institutional Diversity and Inclusiveness, Professor
Catherine Smith joined the faculty at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 2004. After graduating from the University of South Carolina School of Law, Professor Smith clerked for the late Chief Judge Henry A. Politz of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and for U.S. Magistrate Judge William M. Catoe Jr. She then served as a legal fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center. Before joining the faculty at the University of Denver, Professor Smith was an assistant professor at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law from 2000 to 2004. In 2010 Catherine brought the DUDL ofice to the DU SCOL campus and established a formal and meaningful partnership between the Denver Urban Debate League and the University of Denver Sturm College ofLaw
Professor Smith teaches torts, employment discrimination, family law, and sexuality, gender and the law. Her research interests include civil rights law and critical race theory. Her articles have been published in a number of journals, including Wisconsin Law Review, Washington University Law Review, U.C. Davis Law Review and the Ohio State Law Journal. In addition, Smith co-authored an amicus brief on the constitutional rights of children that was cited in Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark United States Supreme Court same-sex marriage decision.