Calendar

CHOICES program

Deadline approaching for alcohol-awareness grants

Institutions interested in developing programming that emphasizes alcohol education and awareness have an opportunity to receive funding assistance from the NCAA through the CHOICES grant program. CHOICES grants provide up to $30,000 over three years for projects that implement promising alcohol-education and alcohol abuse-prevention programs. The projects are intended to target the larger student body and use athletics or student-athlete involvement as a catalyst for change.

The program has been in place since 1991. Almost $2 million in grants have been awarded during that time. Applications for the 2002 program were mailed to member institutions in October. The deadline to submit a proposal for the 2002 awards is February 15, 2002.

For more information on the 2002 CHOICES program and grant guidelines, go to NCAA Online at www.ncaa.org/sports_sciences/education.

Staff contact: Mary Wilfert -- mwilfert@ncaa.org

INTERN SEMINAR

Conference session scheduled for January 24-26

Nell Fortner, coach of the WNBA's Indiana Fever, will deliver the keynote address at the NCAA's 13th annual Conference Intern Seminar.

The theme for this year is "The Road to Your Professional Development." The 2001-02 NCAA intern class will host the event January 24-26, 2002, at the national office in Indianapolis. All conference office interns are invited to attend.

The seminar will include skills-enrichment workshops designed to strengthen leadership, networking and interviewing skills, and presentations pertaining to intercollegiate and professional athletics.

Speakers include Cedric W. Dempsey, NCAA president; Christine Grant, former women's athletics director at University of Iowa; Richard Lapchick, director of the Sports Business Management Program at University of Central Florida; Murray Sperber, professor of English and American Studies at the University of Indiana, Bloomington; and Andy Geiger, athletics director at Ohio State University.

Seminar attendees also will be treated to presentations by a host of seasoned NCAA administrators. Mock interviews and résumé critiques will be offered as workshop components.

For a registration form, please contact Rekha Patterson at 317/917-6311 or via e-mail at rpatterson@ncaa.org.

Staff contact: Rekha Patterson -- rpatterson@ncaa.org

DIVISION II

Pilot drug-testing program for baseball to start in January

Student-athletes participating in Division II baseball will be included in the NCAA's year-round drug-testing program starting in January.

Student-athletes randomly selected from squad lists will participate in this pilot program, which will assist the NCAA in identifying drug-use concerns for the sport.

The NCAA year-round testing program started in 1990 out of concerns that the NCAA postseason drug-testing program was not adequately deterring the use of anabolic androgenic steroids. Accordingly, the year-round testing program is limited to testing urine for anabolic steroids and products that athletes might ingest to "mask" the presence of steroids. Such products include the NCAA banned-drug classes -- diuretics and urine manipulators. Street drugs, such as marijuana and Ecstasy, are not included in year-round on-campus testing by the NCAA.

During the pilot program, a positive drug test for baseball players tested will be set aside. Baseball drug-testing results will be reported in the aggregate to the competitive-safeguards committee and to the Management Council in order to gather data on whether year-round drug testing in baseball will become a permanent program.

HONORS DINNER

CBS'S Kellogg to serve as Honors Dinner emcee

CBS basketball analyst Clark Kellogg will serve as emcee for the 2002 NCAA Honors Dinner.

The Honors Dinner, which will occur in conjunction with the NCAA Convention, will be presented January 13.

Kellogg, who also works as a broadcaster for his former NBA team, the Indiana Pacers, joined CBS Sports full time in 1997 after serving as a studio and game analyst for ESPN from 1990 to 1997. He has worked on CBS Sports' coverage of the Division I Men's Basketball Championship for the past nine years, first as a game analyst and then as co-host of first-and second-round studio coverage. He has co-hosted the Final Four games since 1997.