A pop-up course hosted by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Penn State and led by former Penn State Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Sandy Barbour is coming to Happy Valley to explore the NIL policy adopted by the NCAA in 2021.

Barbour, who has spent more than 40 years in college athletics before retiring in July, will take a closer look at the policy adopted by the NCAA in 2021 that opened name, image, and likeness opportunities to college athletes. 

“Protecting student-athletes must be the number one priority and this begins by educating them about how to protect themselves,” Barbour said in a Penn State release.

“The basic roots of the NCAA NIL policy are to give student-athletes the same opportunities other students have to leverage their name, image and likeness to earn money during their college career,” she said. “Before this policy existed, student-athletes had minimal opportunities to earn money by appearing in commercial opportunities, working with nonprofit organizations, or giving lessons to youth in the community for fear they would jeopardize their eligibility in a collegiate athletic program.”

All members of the community are invited to attend the “College Athletics in the Name, Image and Likeness Era” pop-up course at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, October 26, in Rooms 121 G and H in the Outreach Building. You can also join online via Zoom.

For OLLI at Penn State members, tickets are $15, while it’s $30 for nonmembers. Register here to attend in person or here to attend online.