Sports sponsorship: Clarkson University, a Division III school that sponsors men's ice hockey at the Division I level, has announced it will establish a Division I women's ice hockey program as well. "While we have a very active and competitive women's club hockey team, the university wants to give women the same opportunities to participate in intercollegiate hockey as we offer to men," said Clarkson President Dennis G. Brown. "We looked at various possibilities for women's athletics, and hockey represents the most natural option for us to pursue, given campus facilities and traditions." Clarkson will start the recruiting process this year and enter competitive play during the 2003-04 season. The Golden Knights will compete as an independent and will play a mixture of teams from Divisions I and III during their inaugural campaign next season. In 2004-05, Clarkson will join the Eastern College Athletic Conference. Rick Seeley, formerly women's hockey coach at Manhattanville College, has been named head coach of the program. During his three seasons at Manhattanville, Seeley guided the Valiants to a 54-16-4 overall record, including a 23-2-2 slate last year and a berth in the NCAA Division III championship game, where the Valiants lost to Elmira, 2-1.

Miscellaneous: Florida State University has announced a contract extension with Host Communications, Inc., through 2007. The agreement extends a partnership first formed in 1991 and allows Host to retain Florida State's multimedia and marketing rights for the next five years. As the school's marketing arm for athletics, Host is responsible for all radio broadcasts, coaches' television shows, coaches' endorsements, game-day programs, ticket sales, corporate sponsorships and hospitality and promotions. "We remain pleased with our initiative of a few years ago to develop a new paradigm in which we outsourced our marketing efforts to Host while maintaining unity and consistency internally," said Florida State Athletics Director Dave Hart. "This contract extension provides the opportunity to further strengthen that collaboration."

-- Compiled by Gary T. Brown