PROVIDENCE, R.I. –  The American Athletic Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) has named its Executive Board for the 2019-20 school year.
 
Kiera Dalmass (Morrestown, New Jersey), a four-year member of the women’s lacrosse team at the University of Connecticut, has been appointed as The American’s representative to the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and will be one of 32 student-athletes (one from each Division I conference) that will report directly to the NCAA Division I Council. She also will serve as the conference’s SAAC executive board chair in 2019-20. Lucy Reed (Lititz, Pennyslvania), a senior on the Temple University field hockey team, will serve as the SAAC Executive Board’s vice chair. University of South Florida volleyball player Claire Embry (McKinney, Texas), a senior, has been selected the coordinator of student-athlete engagement, while Chris Paul (Houston, Texas), a redshirt sophomore on the University of Tulsa football team, will serve as the coordinator of community engagement. Sarai Monarrez Yesaki (Monterrey, Mexico), a senior on the Southern Methodist University women’s tennis team and University of Houston senior women’s basketball player Dorian Branch (Dallas, Texas) have been appointed co-coordinators of public relations and Joey Puglessi (Ada, Michigan), a senior on the University of Cincinnati men’s swimming team, will be the coordinator of alumni relations.
 
The American SAAC serves as the voice of student-athletes who represent the Conference’s 13 member institutions. The mission of SAAC is to improve communication for all student-athletes at each member school as well as enhance communications between the institutions. SAAC takes an active role in understanding and providing feedback regarding NCAA and American legislations, and promotes student-athlete well-being, academic achievement, personal development and community service.  

THE AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
The American Athletic Conference (The American), a member of the NCAA, was reconstituted in 2013. With the conference office in Providence, Rhode Island, The American is comprised of the following institutions: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, ECU, Houston, Memphis, Navy (in football only), USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane and Tulsa. Wichita State (basketball and Olympic sports) joined the Conference on July 1, 2017. Under the leadership of Commissioner Mike Aresco, The American sponsors 22 championships – 10 for men and 12 for women; is a member of the College Football Playoff; has television partnerships with ESPN and CBS Sports; in the spring of 2019, signed a landmark television agreement with ESPN that commences in 2020-21; and has a marketing partnership with Learfield. For more information, please visit www.TheAmerican.org.