BATON ROUGE, La. – A three-day conference was held earlier this month in Austin, Texas, to discuss the various issues black student-athletes face in today’s setting.
Athletic directors, coaches, conference commissioners, academic advisors and numerous others involved of the lives of black student-athletes were in attendance. The conference gave those involved in the lives of black student-athletes the chance to discuss the many issues faced and work together to come up with solutions.
Panel members at this conference included Dr. David Graham, Assistant Provost/Associate Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Success from The Ohio State University, Jean Boyd, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Development from Arizona State University, Felicia Martin, Associate Athletics Director for Academic Services from Texas Tech University, Adrien Harraway, Associate Athletics Director for Academic Affairs from University of Virginia and LSU’s own Kenneth O. Miles, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs and director of the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes.
Dr. Graham served as the moderator for the panel discussion which was entitled “From a Directors Perspective.” Dr. Graham spoke about the changing landscape of intercollegiate athletics for black student-athletes and the importance of having speakers at this conference that can help expand dialogue and facilitate research into helping the student-athletes.
“The inaugural Black Student-Athlete Conference was a historic event in that it was the first gathering of its kind to have an exclusive focus on black athletes in intercollegiate athletics,” Dr. Leonard N. Moore said.
Dr. Moore also explained that, “while competing at the highest level of college athletics certainly has its benefits, it also has its fair share of challenges as well.”
Miles said he was fortunate to be able to speak and voice his opinions at the event.
”The conference represented a grassroots movement to add another lens to the cultural paradigm of education, particularly examining the intersection of race, gender, politics, higher education, and athletics,” he said.
For more information about The Black Student-Athlete Conference please visit: http://ddce.utexas.edu/blackstudentathleteconference/
The Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes is a 54,000 square foot facility comprised of academic affairs, student affairs and an information technology teams, serving more than 530 student-athletes. The purpose is to provide an all-inclusive, student-centered support structure for all student-athletes from matriculation, through graduation and life beyond.