Regional Rules Seminars

Constitution 3.2.4.15 requires all NCAA Division III institutions to attend the Regional Rules Seminar at least once in every three years. Click here to see which schools are required to attend in 2017.

Registration for the 2017 NCAA Regional Rules Seminars opens March 6, and seminars will be conducted May 15-17 in Indianapolis and June 5-7 in San Diego.  The Regional Rules Seminar registration link, daily schedule, grid and session descriptions will be available on the Regional Rules Seminar web page.

2017 NCAA Inclusion Forum

Registration for the 2017 NCAA Inclusion Forum is now open. This year's forum will be held April 21-23 in Providence, Rhode Island at the Omni Providence Hotel. The Forum brings together higher education and intercollegiate athletics leaders and student-athletes passionate about improving the educational and professional environment for student-athletes, coaches and staff. Sessions engage on a broad range of topics related to policy, research and best practices that support racial and ethnic minorities, women, international student-athletes, LGBTQ and athletes with disabilities.  

Woman of the Year

The 2017 Woman of the Year application will open on Wednesday, March 8 via the NCAA Program Hub. The school nominations close on Monday, June 12, at 5 p.m. Eastern time.  Click here for the School  Nomination Tutorial, and here to learn more about the nomination and award process.  The NCAA Woman of the Year program honors the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female student-athletes from all three divisions. To be eligible, a nominee must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport, must have completed eligibility in her primary sport, and must have earned her undergraduate degree by summer 2017.  All 30 Woman of the Year honorees will be recognized, and the 2017 Woman of the Year announced, at an awards dinner at the Westin Indianapolis Sunday, October 22, 2017.

CoSIDA Student Program

For the first time, Division III will support six women and/or ethnic-minority students to attend the annual CoSIDA Convention, including Division III Day, June 11-13, 2017, through the new Division III CoSIDA Student Program.  The nomination/application process is available on Program Hub, titled "Division III CoSIDA Student Program," from Monday, February 20, until Friday, March 17, at 5 p.m. Eastern time. 

Program participants who meet the following criteria will be given preference:

• Female and/or ethnic minority students, 
• Current junior class academic standing; 
• Work experience in a campus or conference athletics communication/sports information office; and
• Strong interest in a career in Division III athletics communication (sports information).  

Division III and D3SIDA Recognition Award

Congratulations Andrew Korba of Hiram College, on receiving the 2017 Winter Division III and D3SIDA Recognition Award!  The selection committee of D3SIDA members chose Korba's tribute video to former Hiram student-athlete Lauren Hill.   To view, click here .  Division III and D3SIDA applaud your work and efforts.  Award winners receive a $1,500 credit to attend Division III Day held in conjunction with the annual 2017 CoSIDA convention. The credit will cover the CoSIDA convention registration fee, two nights in the convention hotel, travel accommodations, and two days of meal per diem ($75/day). 

The NCAA Division III and D3SIDA recognition award is a partnership between the Division III governance staff and the Division III College Sports Information Directors of America (D3SIDA) to recognize the best work by athletics communication directors portraying the Division III identity and student-athlete experience.  The recognition program is part of the Division III Identity Initiative.  It seeks to honor the best work - including news releases, feature articles, videos, blogs and other materials - produced by Division III campus and conference athletics communication offices.  

The final submission period for 2016-17 opens March 15 and closes May 1.  For more details on the recognition award, click here. 

2017 CoSIDA Convention Registration

On-line registration for the 2017 CoSIDA Convention, taking place June 11-14 in Orlando in conjunction with NACDA and Affiliates Convention Week, opened  Monday, February 6.  A day featuring Division III specific programming will occur Monday, June 12.  Similar to past years, additional dollars were added to the Division III Conference Grant specifically for campus Athletics Communication Directors and Sports Information Directors to receive funding for this professional development opportunity.  Ask your conference commissioner for details.  Click here for the 2017 CoSIDA Convention webpage.

2017 FAR Fellows Leadership Institute

The 2017 Institute will take place October 13-15 at the NCAA national office in Indianapolis.  Nominations will open in Program Hub April 1, and close May 31, with selections announced June 15.  Please begin to think about nominating an FAR with at least two years or experience who shows the potential to affect change within the institution and/or the conference. Please contact Leah Kareti with any questions.  

360 Proof Monthly Webinar Series

360 Proof offers a monthly webinar series to bring current prevention research to a Division III and NASPA Small College and University audience.  Remaining sessions for 2016-17 include:

• Tuesday, March 7, 3 p.m. Eastern time: "Student-Athlete Drinking Motives and Protective Behavioral Strategies," Dr. Matthew Martens, University of Missouri.
• Wednesday, April 12, 1 p.m. Eastern time: "Spectacular Failures" in Prevention, Dr. Dolores Cimini, University of Albany.

Updated Interassociation Health and Safety Guidance 

In January 2017, the SSI and the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports announced the release of updated interassociation consensus best practices and recommendations regarding Concussion Diagnosis and Management, Independent Medical Care and Year-Round Football Practice Contact . This guidance for athletic trainers, team physicians, coaches and athletics administrators resulted from the second Safety in College Football Summit and were created with input by the membership, sports medicine researchers, scientific experts and more than 13 medical and scientific endorsing associations. Division III staff are encouraged to share this updated health and safety guidance with their campus colleagues. 

Sport-Related Concussion Conference

In partnership with the Pac-12 Conference and the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, the SSI hosted a Sport-Related Concussion Conference on Jan. 27, 2017 in Los Angeles.  This conference brought together researchers, physicians and athletic trainers from the membership to share information about the NCAA-U.S. Department of Defense Grand Alliance and present preliminary results from the NCAA-DoD CARE Consortium, the largest concussion study conducted to date. Click here for a recap of the conference and to learn more about the emerging findings. 

Health Care Delivery Summit

The SSI partnered with the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) to host an Interassociation Summit on the Organization and Administration of Athletics Health Care Services in the College/University Environment on Jan. 25-26, 2017 in Dallas. This two-day event gathered student-athletes and athletics administrators as well as leading sports medicine organizations, athletics health care practitioners and experts in the field to discuss a framework for future interassociation guidance on athletics health care delivery for college athletes. Click here to learn more about the summit.

NCAA Innovations Grant Projects Showcase

The 2016 NCAA Innovations in Research and Practice Grant awardees showcased their findings at the 2017 NCAA Convention in Nashville. Funded projects resulted in resources designed to enhance student-athlete psychosocial well-being and mental health for use at member schools. To view the winning project reports and presentation slides, click on the headers below: 

• Enhancing Student-Athlete Sleep
• Positive Parent Involvement
• Promoting a Positive Body Image in Female Athletes
• Transition Out of Sport

Sexual Assault Awareness Month

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and the SSI offers resources such as the Sexual Violence Prevention Tool Kit and the Addressing Sexual Assault and Interpersonal Violence Guide to support athletics departments in creating and maintaining a safe campus environment. Click here to learn more about ways to get involved in Sexual Assault Awareness Month. 

Hiram College is the recipient of the February Division III Diversity Spotlight Initiative. The athletics department, in conjunction with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, as well as the North Coast Athletic Conference, held a night of open dialog and discussion on the topics of race and diversity. The event, which kicked off the College's Martin Luther King, Jr. Week, was attended by nearly 300 members of the Hiram community. Attendees included Hiram students, faculty and staff, alumni and multiple campus leaders. Click here for the full story. 

The Diversity Spotlight Initiative recognizes and promotes outstanding diversity related projects, programming and initiatives that are occurring on Division III campuses and in conference offices.  Each month, the program recognizes an institution or conference in regard to a diversity related event, program or initiative.   All recipients receive $500 towards their next diversity initiative.  To submit an initiative for consideration for October, please email Reed Fogle or Julian Jones, with a brief statement (no more than 500 words) as to why your institution or conference office deserves to be the spotlight recipient. Attach a video or photo if applicable. The nomination deadline is March 21. 

Spotlight Poll

The NCAA Division III Special Olympics Spotlight Poll is a story-telling initiative located on ncaa.org/D3SpecialOlympics .  It features new stories each month that highlight a Division III and Special Olympics joint activity or event.  The story with the highest number of votes on the 25th day of each month is the winner. That institution or conference receives $500 to use for its next Special Olympics event. Both written and digital submissions are accepted.  Featured stories are selected based on inclusion of the student-athlete perspective and Division III messaging. To submit a story for consideration, please email d3specialolympics@ncaa.org.

February Winner

After 4,517 total votes, Luther SAAC Hosted Second Annual Unith Bowl for Special Olympics won the February Special Olympics Spotlight poll by garnering 45 percent (2,038) of the total votes! Luther College will receive $500 to use for its next Special Olympics event. 

March Nominees

• Mariners Host Special Olympics Basketball Jamboree
•  Empire 8 SAAC Joined Together with Special Olympics as Part of Annual Summit
• 2017 Eastern Polar Plunge a Success for Team CSAC

Click here to vote starting Wednesday, March 1. The winner will be selected March 25, 2017.

Chris Brown Joins Division III AMA Staff

The academic and membership affairs staff is pleased to welcome Chris Brown to Division III. Chris joins the Division III Team as an associate director of academic and membership affairs. Before joining Division III, he worked as an assistant director of academic and membership affairs for Division II. Prior to his time working at the NCAA national office, he served as an assistant director of compliance at Southeast Missouri State University and institutional services assistant at the Ohio Valley Conference. 

Rule of the Month

Student-Athlete Involvement in Noninstitutional Fundraising Activities. Student-athletes are not permitted to set up their own profiles on a crowdfunding website to solicit funds to pay for their expenses associated with competition and practice for an outside team. Bylaw 12.1.5.2-(k) (nonpermissible activities -- after initial, full-time collegiate enrollment) prohibits a student-athlete from receiving expenses to participate in athletics from anyone other than his or her parents/legal guardian or the event sponsor. Because crowdfunding sites solicit funds from a variety of impermissible entities, it would not be permissible for a SA to set up a crowdfunding site to raise funds for his/her participation in athletics. 

However, under Bylaw 12.1.5.1-(a) (permissible activities -- after initial, full-time collegiate enrollment), it is permissible for a student-athlete to receive actual and necessary expenses from an outside amateur team or organization. Consequently, if the outside team or organization is a non-profit, then the student-athlete could solicit funds for the team via a crowdfunding website, provided the funds go directly to the outside team or organization.  The funds could not go directly to the student-athlete, nor could the funds be earmarked specifically for the student-athlete.  For additional information, see a November 06, 2014 educational column (Issues Related to Crowdfunding).

ISSG Reminder

Constitution 6.3.1 requires all Division III institutions to conduct a comprehensive self-study and evaluation of their athletics programs at least once every five years.  Click here to see which schools are required to complete this year's ISSG and supporting documentation by June 1, 2017.  

The full Institutional Self-Study Guide (ISSG) and requirements for supporting documentation are now available for completion.  Click here for the user manual.  This information must be entered into the electronic ISSG by all institutions; fax, hard copy or email submissions of the ISSG will not be accepted. The ISSG can be accessed via the My Apps link on NCAA.org (if access has been granted by the institution's single-source sign-on administrator).  Institutions that need technical assistance are asked to send questions via email to Tonya King-Aguster.

SAR Update

The student-athlete reinstatement (SAR) staff often receives reinstatement requests and waivers identified by the submitting institutions as urgent. The staff also receives questions like, "What does 'urgent' mean?" "How are urgent cases prioritized?" "What can institutions do to ensure timely processing of the case?" In response to those questions, the SAR staff offers the following advice: 

The policies and procedures established by the Division III Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement identify a request as urgent when competition is pending within 10 days. Reinstatement requests and waivers are prioritized based on the student-athlete's next date of pending competition. For example, if an institution submits a waiver on a Monday and the next competition is Wednesday, it will be processed after the waivers involving student-athletes that have pending competition on Tuesday. To avoid a last-minute situation, institutions should file requests as soon as the need is identified and all relevant information is gathered. Incomplete information will result in a delay of processing the waiver. Please remember that the SAR staff will request any additional information necessary to provide a decision in this case, so filing the case as early as possible allows extra time for collaborating. If you are submitting an urgent request, please identify it as urgent in the RSRO system and include the student-athlete's next date of competition, date of departure for competition (if applicable), and detailed contact information for the primary case contact, including an alternate phone number (e.g., mobile phone number).

Pathway Program Application

The Pathway Program application opened February 27, and the deadline to complete the application is March 27.  Click here for more details, including program dates and deadlines.  The program is designed to elevate senior-level athletics administrators to the next step as a director of athletics. This year-long program is an intensive, experiential learning opportunity for selected participants. In addition to the in-person programming throughout the year, participants are paired with both presidential and director of athletics mentors. Four participants from Division III will be selected and the first of four programming dates will take place June 25-30 in Indianapolis. 

Free Online Financial Education Now Available for all College Athletes

Division I National SAAC requested access to financial awareness education. In response, NCAA leadership development is now providing free education via an online platform for all student-athletes. College athletes from all NCAA divisions have access to videos, articles, worksheets and calculators on an array of financial topics, such as, but not limited to: budgeting, banking, savings, taxes, credit and debt. College athletes can embrace their personal financial development at their own pace. They can access the education platform here. How-to guides (PDF) are available for both college athletes participating in the education (PDF), and administrators interested in facilitating the financial literacy (PDF). Questions about the financial education? Please email ldevelopment@ncaa.org. 

Career in Sports Forum

The Career in Sports Forum (Indianapolis; June 1-4, 2017) brings together more than 200 student-athletes to learn and explore potential careers in sports, with the primary focus on college athletics. This unique, four-day forum is designed to assist student-athletes in charting their career paths, as well as provide an opportunity to network and learn from current athletics professionals. Each member school may nominate up to five (5) deserving junior and senior student-athletes to complete the application. The nomination form opened February 27, and the deadline for student-athletes to complete the application is March 27. Click here for more information about the eligibility requirements, registration, and other FAQs.

Effective Facilitation Workshops

The Effective Facilitation Workshops (San Diego; June 22-25, 2017) are interactive professional development experiences where attendees receive personalized feedback on specific leadership styles and gain skills in active learning and engaging facilitation. After attending the workshop, attendees return to campus or the conference office to create meaningful group discussions with student-athletes and run effective meetings for department staff. The application opened February 27, and the deadline is March 27. Click here for more information.

Leadership Institute

The Leadership Institute (Tampa, Florida; July 8-14, 2017) provides tailored programming to assist ethnic minorities in strategically mapping and planning their careers in athletics administration by providing professional development programming over the course of a calendar year, which includes two, one-week programs at the beginning and conclusion of that year. The application opened February 27, and the deadline for application is March 27. Click here for more information.

NCAA Graduate Student Research Grant Program

The NCAA Research Committee invites research proposals within the general topic areas of student-athlete psychosocial well-being and college athletics participation. Research grants are available for current graduate students enrolled at NCAA-member institutions and are intended to support the student while conducting research to be used for a doctoral dissertation, master's thesis or external publication. Awards for these one-time research grants are set at a maximum of $7,500. For more information, please visit the grant program website to download the current Call for Proposals (CFP), review FAQs, read the abstracts from previously funded projects, and see examples of funded proposals.  The application deadline is May 15, 2017. 

Playing Rules Committees Survey Results

As part of the process of adding, altering and/or deleting playing rules, the NCAA playing rules committees conduct surveys with the membership to determine the interest in/opposition to existing rules and potential new rules.  The survey results recently conducted in the sport of men's and women's soccer are available on NCAA.org.

Championships Bid Timeline

The NCAA championships staff recently announced the site selection timeline with the announcement of hosts and sites for 83 of the 90 championships each year over four academic years, spanning 2018-19 through 2021-22.  

The timeline is as follows:

See the latest appointments, promotions and retirements in the NCAA Record.

Several committees conducted in-person meetings in February. 

Championships Committee, February 7-8
Membership Committee, February 8
Financial Aid Committee, February 13-14
Interpretations and Legislation Committee, February 16-17
Sportsmanship and Game Environment Working Group, February 16-17