Today, there are 28 full-time Division III commissioners, a remarkable growth rate from the days when we could all meet in an elevator. In addition, about half of us have full-time assistants.

What has caused this explosion? So much has changed in society over the last decade to which Division III conferences, and the NCAA itself for that matter, have had to devote attention. The Internet came into our world essentially just a decade ago. When Web sites took the country by storm, we in Division III took advantage of the technology. People all over the globe can dial us up and see scores, standings and features updated daily. Since media coverage of Division III athletics is minimal at best, we are constantly publicizing information about our 433 member institutions so our alumni and fans can keep up with the progress of their favorite athletics programs.

The advent of e-mail, a subsidiary of the Web world, allowed us to communicate instantly, not only with individual letters and memos, but group broadcasting as well. In addition, we can now attach spreadsheets, word documents, etc., and function better and faster than before. The amount of surveys and information sharing is staggering compared to a generation ago.

The bottom line is, though, with the capacity to do more work comes the corresponding expectation that more work gets done. Enter your Division III commissioner.

The NCAA staff also has exploded since I became its 75th employee (including clerical) in a modest three-story building in Mission, Kansas, in June 1980. Today there are about 350 full-time employees.

The job of the NCAA staff is to service student-athletes, institutions and conferences. The better job it does, and it is doing a marvelous job I might add, the more work we as commissioners have to do to service our own student-athletes and members. One example is the recent creation of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. I am so proud of our own conference SAAC and the progress it has made, and I am sure my fellow commissioners feel the same about their SAACs. It is work that is both rewarding and time-consuming, and work that a decade ago did not exist.

Recently, the NCAA divided secondary infractions into two levels so that schools would not have to immediately report to the national office those items deemed minor or isolated. Most of the commissioners I have talked with will now be responsible for a year-end report that will outline these "Level II" violations on behalf of their members. This is another of the many examples of how the national office is relying more and more on conference offices to get things done.

As the current president of the Division III Commissioners Association, I have come to know most of my colleagues pretty well. To a man and woman, they are genuinely focused on the welfare of student-athletes. We are not power hungry. We are not trying to consolidate conferences to reap a television payday. We have no hidden agendas. We want to help the cause, whatever it is, and not be the cause. The fact that we are growing in terms of service and visibility is simply a microcosm and a working byproduct of the NCAA staff, which has almost quintupled in the last 25 years.

Our commissioners association now has a Web site of its own and we meet twice a year. Our sole purpose is to share information and help each other. The highlight of our meetings are the "How-do-you-do-that roundtables." We learn from each other so that we can better serve our members.

The work we do is quite unique, considering the fact that only 28 of us are doing it full-time (and another 14 part-time). There are no textbooks or reference sources to help us. Our only "professors" are ourselves. Thus, we spend significant energy helping each other to help our memberships serve student-athletes. That is our only agenda.

It is a privilege for any of us to serve as leaders and sit in on NCAA committees. Speaking for the Ohio Athletic Conference, my constituents appreciate each and every chance I get to become involved locally, regionally and nationally. The OAC considers it a privilege when its commissioner not only represents it but, more importantly, is willing and eager to help the conference do its share of the national workload.

It seems like 1991 was just yesterday. Steve Argo of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, Dennis Collins of the North Coast Athletic Conference, Pat Damore of the State University of New York Athletic Conference, Dick Rasmussen of the University Athletic Association and I are the only ones who remain from that historic meeting when, for the first time, we gathered as the only Division III commissioners.

We've come a long way, but our intentions have always been the same.

Tim Gleason is the commissioner of the Ohio Athletic Conference and also is a member of the Division III Management Council.