April 13, 2009

AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas Athletics is teaming with UT Student Government to host a student-athlete discussion panel on Tuesday, April 14. The discussion, held in conjunction with National Student-Athlete Day, is scheduled for 6 p.m. in the SSB (Student Services Building) Glenn Maloney Room.

Audience members will be able to ask the student-athletes questions about their campus experiences.

The panel will consist of both male and female student-athletes from a variety of sports, including Olympic swimming gold medalist Ricky Berens and Olympic swimmer Kathleen Hersey.

Eddie Jones and Sam Acho will discuss their experiences as members of the Texas Football team.

Soccer student-athlete Stephanie Logterman, Volleyball's Ashley Engle and former Men's Tennis student-athlete Bernhard Deussner will also join the discussion.

Dr. Jim Vick, a distinguished professor in the Department of Mathematics and faculty representative to UT Athletics, will moderate.

"We hope we can answer some good questions and clear up any misconceptions the students here at Texas have about athletes on campus," said Alex Basso, a UT swimmer and officer on the Student Athlete Advisory Committee.

The Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) worked with Student Government to organize the discussion panel.

SAAC consists of representatives from every athletic team on campus. Coaches nominate student-athletes to serve one-year terms on the committee.

SAAC works to maintain communication between the Athletic Department and each team. The committee also organizes community service efforts, and last year organized a campaign to register student-athletes to vote.

Logterman serves as SAAC president, while Basso, Deussner and Women's Track and Field's Alex Anderson are the other elected officers.