PROVIDENCE, RI – The second annual American Athletic Conference Academic Consortium Symposium will be held April 6-7 at the Wayne Densch Center for Student-Athlete Leadership in Orlando, Florida. This year’s two-day event, hosted by the University of Central Florida, will focus on the research and programming being conducted on the campuses of The American’s 13-member institutions relative to student-athlete well-being.
The American Athletic Conference Academic Consortium was founded in 2016 as a presidential initiative by the league’s member institutions to promote academic excellence and to develop opportunities for collaboration and professional development for faculty, administrators and students. The core focus of the Consortium is the establishment of research and formulation of programming relative to student well-being, with particular emphasis on the issues surrounding college athletics. The Consortium aims at fostering partnerships among member institutions and developing initiatives that advance the academic mission at each institution.
“The American Athletic Conference and our 13 member institutions are committed to being national leaders in the area of student-athlete health and well-being,” Commissioner Mike Aresco said. “This Symposium is an extremely important initiative and I am proud that our presidents, athletic directors and faculty athletic representatives support and continue to provide the funds for the establishment and growth of this Academic Consortium. I want to thank UCF for serving as the host for this year’s event. Last year’s inaugural meeting was a great success, and there will again be valuable discussion and planning in Orlando throughout the two days.”
Highlighting the two days of the Symposium will be 12 presentations from 2017-18 American Academic Consortium Grant recipients who have conducted research on member institution campuses throughout the past year on behalf of student well-being. Faculty members, administrators, students and staff members at American member institutions attending the Symposium will also hear from three keynote speakers – Dr. Brian Hainline, Chief Medical Officer of the NCAA; Dr. Richard Lapchick, Director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics and Director of the DeVos Sports Business Management program at UCF; and Faron Kelley, Vice President, Disney Sports & Water Parks.
In addition, a student-athlete panel discussion regarding current issues pertaining to student well-being also will take place. There also will be two other panels that will focus on body image and student-athlete psychological issues.
More than 60 individuals are expected to attend this year’s Symposium. Last year’s inaugural event was held in Philadelphia and was hosted by Temple University.
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, East Carolina, 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 21 championships – 10 for men and 11 for women; is a member of the College Football Playoff; began new television partnerships with ESPN and CBS Sports in 2014; and has a marketing partnership with IMG College. For more information, please visit
www.TheAmerican.org.