Our STORY

ANA began when two recent PhD graduates, faced with finding their place in the North American job market, recognized the need for organized and sustained support. 

ANA's mission is to provide a network to connect the interdisciplinary argumentation studies community across North, Central, and South America with a specific aim to support students and early career researchers. This will be done through a periodic major conference, along with smaller regional events taking place more regularly. The main priority of the ANA executive is to make connections across the continents in efforts to support the the growth and development of researchers in the field. 

MEET THE EXECUTIVE

Daniel Mejía

Chair
[email protected]

Universidad EAFIT, Área De Lenguaje, Faculty 

​​Daniel holds an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Universidad de Antioquia; a Masters degree in Humanistic Studies from Universidad EAFIT, and a PhD in Argumentation Studies from the University of Windsor. He is Assistant Professor at the School of Arts and Humanities of the Universidad EAFIT, in Medellín, Colombia, and his research lies in the field of argumentation studies and political discourse analysis, with a focus on public sphere argumentation.

Constanza Ihnen

Regional Director - South
​[email protected]

Faculty of Law – University of Chile, Chile. 

​​Constanza has an undergraduate degree in Hispanic and Latin American Literature and Linguistics from the Catholic University of Chile. She earned her Master’s and PhD in Rhetoric, Argumentation and Philosophy of Language from the University of Amsterdam. She is currently interested in lawmaking and constitution-making discussion procedures and argumentation, legal arguments (about evidence in particular), and the descriptive and normative meaning of the term "force" when applied to arguments.

Sarah Partlow-Lefèvre

Regional Director - North
[email protected]

Department of Communication, Media, and Persuasion - Idaho State University, USA.​​

Sarah earned her Ph.D., from the University of Kansas in Communication and Rhetorical Studies. She is a Professor in the Department of Communication, Media, and Persuasion at Idaho State University where she has been the Director of Debate since 2001. She is interested in the intersection between argumentation and conspiracy theories, argumentation theory, presidential debates, debates about gun control, second wave feminism, and contemporary controversies in the public sphere.  Sarah is the Director of the National Debate Tournament. She also serves on the board of the Women’s Debate Institute and Kind Community Inc. in Pocatello. As part of her role for KIND, Sarah promotes respectful dialogue and debate in her local community.

Gustavo Arroyo

Regional Director - South
[email protected]

National University of General Sarmiento, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Gustavo holds three degrees in Philosophy, including an undergraduate from the National University of Rosario (Argentina), a Master's from the University of Campinas (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and a PhD from the Free University of Berlin (Germany). Gustavo has been a member of the Mexican Academy of Logic, and he is currently a member of the Argentinian Society of Analytic Philosophy (SADAF). Since 2023, he has been a part of the editorial board of the journal Topoi. Gustavo's academic interests span the theory of concepts and definitions, with a specific focus on the challenges involved in arguing about definitions within both academic and social contexts. Additionally, he is intrigued by philosophical argumentation and deeply engaged in exploring the problem of deep disagreements.

Carly Woods

Regional Director - North
[email protected]

Department of Communication - University of Maryland, USA.
​
Carly earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Communication and a graduate certificate in Women's Studies from the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on gender, race, and nation in argumentation and debate. Carly is the author of Debating Women: Gender, Education, and Spaces for Argument, 1835-1945 (Michigan State University Press) and is currently working on a book manuscript on international argumentation and higher education in the 1920s. 

Hugo Mota

Communications Director
[email protected]

Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas - University of Oslo, Norway.​

​Hugo earned an Undergraduate and Masters degrees in Philosophy from the Federal University of Pernambuco. He recently earned a Ph.D. degree in Philosophy from the University of Oslo, and now is a temporary lecturer at the same institution. His dissertation is on social epistemology, specifically in the relation between deep disagreements, power inequality, and communication. He is also interested in conflict resolution and peace studies with a focus on international mediation of conflicts.

Michael D. Baumtrog

Secretary
[email protected]

Department of Law and Business - Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada.​
Michael earned Undergraduate and Masters degrees in Philosophy from the University of Windsor. He earned his PhD in Philosophy from the New University of Lisbon, Portugal. His main research interests are in practical reasoning and argumentation, epistemic injustice and youth, and the concept and practice of agreement.

​Diego Castro

Treasurer
[email protected]

Department of Humanities - Universidad Andrés Bello, Chile​.
Diego has an undergraduate degree in philosophy and another in law, both from the Catholic University of Chile. He earned his Master's degree in Philosophy at the University of Chile. He did his PhD in Philosophy at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, focusing on the relationship between disagreement and argumentation. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Humanities of the Andres Bello University in Chile. Lately, he is interested in deliberation as a philosophical concept, and it's relationship with argumentation.

Ignacio Madroñal

Grad Representative - South
[email protected]

Department of Philosophy - University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Ignacio holds a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Buenos Aires, where he is also pursuing his Ph.D. He is a doctoral fellow at the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) and an assistant professor at the University of Buenos Aires. His research focuses on applying tools from social epistemology and argumentation theory to analyze debates in the philosophy of science. More recently, he has become interested in the role of argumentation in promoting public trust in science.

Dan Cohen

Senior Advisor
[email protected]

Professor of Philosophy - Colby College, USA. ​
The path of my academic career began at Colby College in Waterville, Maine with a BA in mathematics and philosophy.  After graduation, I hiked the Appalachian Trail before earning a PhD in Philosophy from Indiana University, before returning to Colby Col\lege where I have taught ever since, with visiting appointments in Cork, Ireland and Wellington, New Zealand along the way.  The path of my philosophical research began in formal logic, passed through Wittgenstein into questions in the philosophy of language, with special attention to metaphors, finally arriving in argumentation theory and arguers' virtues.