MILWAUKEE - Staff and student-athletes representing the Milwaukee Athletic Department are headed to Indiana later this month to attend the annual NCAA Inclusion Forum in Indianapolis.
 
Director of Athletics Amanda Braun, Senior Associate Athletics Director Kathy Litzau and women's basketball head coach Kyle Rechlicz will serve as panelists, while student-athlete Alyssa Fischer (women's basketball) and Assistant Business Manager Andrew Docter will also attend the forum.
 
The 2018 NCAA Inclusion Forum will be held April 14-16 at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis. This seventh annual gathering brings together higher education and intercollegiate athletics leaders and student-athletes passionate about improving the educational and professional environment for student-athletes, coaches and staff.
 
"This will be a unique opportunity to represent Milwaukee Athletics on a higher stage," Braun said. "We are proud to be able to have such a presence at a national forum with such an important issue at the forefront. We were certainly thrilled to be asked to participate and look forward to the experience at the event."
 
Inclusion Forum sessions engage on a broad range of topics related to policy, research and best practices that focus on core identities such as race/ethnicity, women/gender equity, LGTBQ, disability sport, and international students. The various sessions are designed to educate and empower attendees, enhance diversity-and-inclusion competencies, provide practical takeaways and foster opportunities for dialogue on campuses and across conferences.
 
Braun and Litzau will be on a panel discussing Optimizing the Senior Woman Administrator Designation. The session will feature a panel with pairs of SWAs/ADs from each NCAA Division sharing their experience with the designation – best practices, challenges, goals for the future, etc.
 
Fischer, a member of the women's basketball team and athletic board member, will attend on scholarship. The NCAA Regional Student-Athlete Engagement Program provides expenses for 30 student-athletes and an accompanying administrator to attend the NCAA Inclusion Forum, where they will join higher education and intercollegiate athletics leaders committed to improving the educational and professional environment for student-athletes, coaches and staff.
 
Program participants will attend Inclusion Forum sessions that focus on core identities such as race/ethnicity, women/gender equity, LGTBQ, disability sport, and international students in addition to a student-athlete-centered workshop. The workshop and various Inclusion Forum sessions are designed to educate and empower student-athletes, enhance diversity-and-inclusion competencies, provide practical takeaways and foster opportunities for dialogue on campuses and across conferences.
 
Rechlicz is scheduled to be on a panel discussing Work-Life Integration: Tips to Persisting in an Intercollegiate Athletics Career. Docter will attend representing the department's Employee Relations Committee with the intention of bringing back ideas to the committee back on campus.