MACOMB, Ill. - Lisa Melz, Director of Athletic Academic Services and Senior Woman Administrator for Western Illinois Athletics, will serve on a panel during the Rainbow PUSH Coalition Conference in Chicago on Tuesday (June 15). Melz will participate in the Conference's 'A More Perfect Union: The State of Civil Rights'. That workshop will take place at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place from 2:30-4 p.m.

Part of the discussion will focus on the NCAA and 'Student-Athletes: Where the Plan, Program and Graduation Rates Connect'. The discussion will also cover transition from high school to college and preparing student-athletes for success on the playing field, in the classroom and life after graduation.

Melz, who serves on the NCAA Committee on Academic Performance, is one of eight panelists selected from across the country.

"I am very excited and humbled to have been asked to be a panelist at the 39th Annual Rainbow PUSH Coalition and Citizenship Education Fund Conference 'A More Perfect Union: The State of Civil Rights'," said Melz. "I am thrilled to be part of a panel that will provide an overview to the attendees of the NCAA's commitment to academic performance and Higher Education, and the landscape of graduation rates as it relates to student-athletes of color."