Shauhin Talesh has worn many hats in his academic and professional career. He is a UC Irvine alum, former basketball student-athlete and coach, Rhodes Scholar candidate, lawyer, professor and now Faculty Athletic Representative.
 
The Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR), although not as well-known as Talesh's other roles, is an NCAA mandated position, and provides an essential link between athletics and the academic community. The individual must be a full-time professor at the University, and acts as a form of external oversight to make sure the athletic department is maintaining institutional control, preserving academic integrity and properly addressing student-athlete health and well-being.
 
As part of the role at UC Irvine, the FAR chairs the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics (CACIA), which brings together representatives from the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, faculty, admissions and the Title IX office.
 
Talesh, currently a professor in the UCI School of Law, was announced as the FAR on July 1, after the retirement of Dr. David Snow. When appointed the position earlier this year, Talesh was one who checked all the boxes. He previously served on CACIA as a faculty member and chaired the sub-committees on student health and well-being, as well as compliance. He has experience as both a student-athlete and coach, giving him an understanding of the unique pressures and time demands that exist in intercollegiate athletics. His own research is also about compliance, studying how organizations go about responding to legal regulations.
 
In his first year as the FAR, Talesh hopes to start building relationships with the coaches and student-athletes.
 
"I've met with every head coach and I'm hoping to be more visible," Talesh said. "I will be very outward facing in part because of my connections to the department that go back a long ways."
 
That connection started when Talesh walked on to the UC Irvine men's basketball team in 1993. With his hard work, resiliency and love for the game, Talesh earned a spot on the squad, playing under head coach Rod Baker over the next three years. And those were three years that Talesh still cherishes.
 
"It was a wonderful experience and something I look back on very fondly," Talesh said. "Playing the game you love in college is incredible. One of the things I remember vividly is the day of our first game. Coach Baker told us there are about 30 games a year and you're only here for four years so you should savor that moment because it will go by fast. I remember hearing that, and being 19 years old, really accepting it. So, I tried to make the most of it. To this day, it is one of the most fun and rewarding experiences I've had in my life."
 
After graduating from UC Irvine with a degree in criminology, law and society, Talesh moved across the country to attend law school at the University of Connecticut. Although he was in a new environment, and extremely busy with school, Talesh found a way to keep basketball in his life. Needing an outlet from his studies, Talesh became an assistant men's basketball coach at Trinity College, an NCAA Division III institution in Hartford, Connecticut.
 
"It brought me back to my love; I love basketball," Talesh said. "I did that for a couple years while I was in law school and it made the experience really busy but a lot of fun because I had a release every day going to practice, being around young people and helping them with their goals."
 
After clerking for a justice on the Connecticut Supreme Court, Talesh went on to practice law for five years at a large firm in Los Angeles. But, something was missing. One thing he learned as a student-athlete at UCI was to believe in yourself and follow your dreams. His first dream of playing college basketball had been accomplished, but his other dream, which he knew from his first day of law school, was to be a professor. So, he ended up leaving the law firm to go back to the academic grind at UC Berkeley where he earned his Ph.D. in Jurisprudence and Social Policy (2006-11).
 
From there, Talesh received job offers from a number of Southern California schools, but ultimately decided to come home to UC Irvine, which opened its law school in 2009.
 
"My heart was set on coming back to UCI," Talesh said. "Being part of a new law school was exciting, and being able to come back to my home school is such a rewarding experience. I still know people in the athletic department and across campus which makes me feel more connected than I would have at another institution."
 
The connection goes even deeper with his brother, Rameen, who is also a UCI alum, working on campus as the Dean of Students. In addition to working together, the two can also be found playing on the same intramural basketball team that has won the 5-on-5 championship in three of the last four years.
 
With all of his ties to the school, UC Irvine is definitely a special place for Talesh. 
 
"I've had two dreams in my life, one was to play college basketball and the other was to be a law professor," Talesh said. "It's funny how both of my dreams ended up being realized in one place - UC Irvine. I love my job as a law professor and I loved my experience playing basketball."