17³Ô¹Ï

Communication Studies

Fine Arts & Communication

Lauren Velasco was raised locally, graduating from Gunn High School in Palo Alto and, later, Stanford University. In between, as an undergraduate at Bates College, she competed on the national and international speech and debate circuits, was a disc jockey, news anchor, and talk show host on the college’s radio station, served in student government, and volunteered as a big sister at the Lewiston/Auburn Abused Women’s Advocacy Project. She was a founding member of the college’s Committee on Sexual Violence, which succeeded in writing one of the nation’s first campus policies on rape and sexual assault. On the intercollegiate circuit, Lauren and her debate partner were selected to compete in two North American and two World Debate Championships. The duo was ultimately ranked the #4 Team of the Year in the United States. Lauren also competed in the World Individual Speech Championship and participated in the World Summit on Women in Debate, held in Australia. Her junior year, she co-directed the North American Debate Championship and then studied abroad in Mérida, Mexico. She participated in intercollegiate and/or showcase debates on four continents, graduating from Bates with highest honors in rhetoric and a secondary concentration in Spanish. While a graduate student at Stanford, Lauren also worked full-time as Interim Director of the Women's Community Center and co-taught Public Speaking in the university's Technical Communication Program. She earned her graduate degree in communication and received Stanford University’s James W. Lyons Award for Service. Lauren has independently produced six documentary films and videos, three of which have been shown on television and featured in local, national, and international film festivals. Also an FCC-licensed disc jockey and a Level 1 Certified Archery Instructor, she has taught communication full time at 17³Ô¹Ï for more than a quarter-century. She founded its award-winning Speech and Debate Team in 2000, which she coached for 10 years. She has taught in 17³Ô¹Ï’s Honors Institute and is the last remaining original instructor in 17³Ô¹Ï's outstanding Umoja Community. She believes in you and your dreams, and will do everything she can to support you in reaching them.