May 13, 2011

PEMBROKE – Athletic department officials at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke announced Thursday afternoon that Oklahoma graduate and Marquette Law School juris doctor candidate Patrick Sterk has been named Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance and Student-Athlete Success.

Sterk, a Hinsdale, Ill., native, comes to Pembroke following an outstanding academic career that will conclude with his graduation from Marquette later this month. While at the distinguished institution in Milwaukee, Wisc., he was a member of the Marquette Sports Law Review, as well as a member of the Marquette Sports Law Society. He also has the distinction of being the first full-time compliance officer in the UNCP athletic department.

“We are excited to have Patrick become our first-ever full-time compliance officer,” said UNCP director of athletics Dan Kenney. “His previous experience at the NCAA national office and NCAA Division II member Lewis University will be a big plus for our UNCP Student Athletes.”

Sterk was selected for a law clerk position at the National Collegiate Athletic Association during the summer months of 2010 where he was tasked with drafting and implementing a comprehensive open records policy for the national office. While there, he handled numerous cease and desist proceedings to protect NCAA trademarks and copyrights, as well as worked on projects concerning antitrust law, torts, education law and government legislation. He was also an attendee at an NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions hearing, as well as the 2010 NCAA Regional Rules conference in Indianapolis.

As a compliance intern at Lewis in Romeoville, Ill., last year, he was assigned to day-to-day compliance tasks, including student-athlete eligibility, the enforcement of NCAA rules, ongoing student-athlete education and the verification of team travel and practice logs. He also undertook medical hardship waivers, as well as work with the eligibility center and national letters of intent.

Sterk attained his first experience in the athletic field as an undergraduate at Oklahoma as the vice-president and co-founder of the student basketball task force in 2007-08. His efforts required him to work in tandem with the OU athletic department to achieve a better fan experience for men’s basketball games, while also marketing the team and events on campus. He continued his work in the field as a law student, serving as a graduate research assistant where he assisted one of his professors with research into the public financing of professional sports arenas.

One of his authored works, “To Pray or To Play: Religious Discrimination in the Scheduling of Interscholastic Athletic Events”, was published in The Sports Lawyers Journal this spring.

Sterk graduated with his bachelor’s degree in political science from Oklahoma in 2008 where he was a national merit scholar, a member of the Alpha Lamda Delta Honor Society and a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. He maintained a 3.57 cumulative grade point average while a student in Norman, Okla., was a member of the honor roll for all eight semesters and a dean’s list honoree in five semesters. He will earn his juris doctor from Marquette, as well as his sports law certificate from the NSLI, later this month.

Sterk and his fiancée , Suzanne Donoval, are set to be married in late June.