The 97th annual NCAA Convention will start with something new: NCAA President Myles Brand.

Brand will deliver his first state of the Association address as part of the opening business session January 12 in Anaheim, California. It will be the first opportunity for the Association's membership to hear from Brand, who was selected in October to replace Cedric W. Dempsey.

Brand's address will be among the highlights of the Convention, which also will feature legislative sessions in Divisions II and III and the annual Honors Dinner, during which former Olympian Donna de Varona will be presented with NCAA's highest honor, the Theodore Roosevelt Award.

As of mid-December, more than 1,400 delegates had registered for the January 11-13 Con- vention. That figure was a little behind the 2002 Convention, which was conducted in the NCAA's home city of Indianapolis.

As has been the case since 1998, Division I delegates will not conduct legislative business at the Convention. However, part of the January 13 Division I forum will focus on a discussion of the NCAA Convention and the Division I legislative process. Other topics for the Division I forum include the incentives/disincentives package in Division I academic-reform efforts and a report from a subcommittee charged with examining Division I championship bracket formats.

Division II will consider 41 legislative proposals -- 39 proposed amendments and two amendments-to-amendments. Among them will be a proposal to better define the expectations of the senior woman administrator position. Delegates also will consider 12 proposals to deregulate Bylaw 14, the next-to-last in a five-year legislative deregulation effort.

Division III will take up 15 proposed amendments and one amendment-to-amendment. Among the most significant will be a series of proposals to modify Division III playing- and practice-season regulations.

The Convention also will feature nine Association-wide and division-specific education sessions on January 11.

The Association-wide sessions will focus on Title IX, gender and racial diversity issues, administrators and coaches as educators, homophobia, connecting with student-athletes, and issues regarding American Indian mascots.

A Division I session will examine Bylaw 17 deregulation, while Division II will look at football issues. Division III will consider facility planning, construction and usage.

The January 11 delegates reception will be conducted in the Hollywood Backlot of Disney's California Adventure.

The annual Honors Dinner will begin at 7:30 p.m. January 12. In addition to de Varona's Theodore Roosevelt Award, the Association will recognize five Silver Anniversary Award winners and the Today's Top VIII (top current student-athletes), along with three Inspiration Award winners.