Kelli Rodriguez Headshot

Kelli Rodriguez — Faculty - Staff - Adjunct ; Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, School of Law ; Department of Marketing , Albers School of Business & Economics - School of Law ; Areas of Expertise: College Athletics | Student Athletes, Name-Image-Likeness, NIL, NCAA Compliance, Sports Law .

Profile Type:

Director of Master of Legal Studies and Sports Law Program | Ï㽶ÊÓƵ School of Law
Adjunct Professor, MBA in Sport and Entertainment Management

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Focus is on NCAA and Title IX compliance. Expertise in teaching legal issues courses and publishing works on student-athlete experiences including name, image, and likeness rights.

Biography

Kelli Rodriguez is the Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and Director of the Sports Law Program at Ï㽶ÊÓƵ School of Law, where she oversees the Flex JD program as well as the Master of Legal Studies (MLS) programs. Kelli teaches sports law, and she has taught many courses throughout the Ï㽶ÊÓƵ community, including business law, sport management and organizational structures, ethical and leadership considerations in sport, and legal issues in arts and entertainment management. Her research interests include the student-athlete experience, NCAA compliance, collective bargaining and employment considerations, and she has published on topics including Title IX, NCAA eligibility, and the use of cannabinoids in sport medicine.

Ms. Rodriguez is Chicana and a first-generation college student and law student. She earned her Juris Doctor from Ï㽶ÊÓƵ School of Law, her Master of Sports Administration and Leadership from Ï㽶ÊÓƵ, and her Bachelor of Science in Sport Management from California University of Pennsylvania.

Education

  1. Bachelor of Science, California University of Pennsylvania, Sport Management-Wellness & Fitness, Summa Cum Laude
  2. Master of Sport Administration and Leadership, Ï㽶ÊÓƵ
  3. Juris Doctor, Ï㽶ÊÓƵ School of Law, Cum Laude

Courses Taught

  • Business law
  • Sport Law
  • Arts & Entertainment Law

Publications

Articles
  • If You Build It, “They/Them” Will Come: The Misgendering of Transgender Nonbinary Athletes Is Discrimination on the Basis of Sex, 31 Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport 312 (2021)
  • A Commitment to the Whole Athlete: Embracing the Role of Cannabinoids in Collegiate Athletics, 43 Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Law Review 921 (2020)
  • National Collegiate Sports Counseling Center: Providing Student-Athletes with Comprehensive Advocacy Throughout Their Collegiate Career, 12 Seattle Journal for Social Justice, 1128 (2014)
  • Signaling Eligibility: Evaluating the Messaging of NCAA Eligibility Requirements to Prospective Student-Athletes, presented at North American Society for the Sociology of Sport Conference 2014
Essays
  • Compensation of Student-Athletes threatens Women's Collegiate Sports Altogether, Women in Sports, editor Maylon Hanold (ABC-CLIO 2018)