The NCAA Honors Committee is now accepting nominations for the 42nd annual NCAA Honors Celebration. For the second year, nominations will be accepted through the Internet only. All nominations are due August 4.

The Association annually honors current and former student-athletes who have brought distinction to themselves, their institutions and intercollegiate athletics.

Nomination information for the winter and spring Top VIII Awards and Theodore Roosevelt, Silver Anniversary, Award of Valor and Inspiration awards recently was e-mailed to officials at member institutions and conference offices.

Nomination forms and information about past honorees and the history of the honors program are also available at the online location. The information is accessible from the home page of the NCAA Web site via the "media and events" menu and its "awards" link.

More information about the nomination process can be obtained from Sharon Tufano at the NCAA national office (telephone 317/917-6939, or e-mail stufano@ncaa.org).

The Honors Celebration will be January 8 at the NCAA Convention in Orlando, Florida.

The NCAA Research Committee has established a grant program for graduate students pursuing research on college athletics.

The NCAA Graduate Student Research Grant Program seeks to stimulate and foster contributions to research on college athletics. The program will provide students who are conducting research for a doctoral dissertation, thesis or external publication up to $5,000 for a one-year project.

The work should result in an article suitable for publication in a scholarly journal, or in a completed thesis or dissertation. Recipients also will be expected to submit a brief summary of the research suitable for publication in The NCAA News.

Research topics may include, but are not limited to, the impact of athletics participation on the academic or social experiences of the student participant; best practices for academic advisement of student-athletes; the relationship between athletics time demands and academic success; student-athlete integration into the campus community; the relationship between athletics department finances and on-field success; and student-athlete satisfaction with the college experience.

Topics of specific interest to the NCAA and its membership and students demonstrating the competencies needed to successfully complete the proposed study will receive highest consideration.

A complete description of the program and the application procedure (dated June 12) can be accessed through the "View All Association Updates" link near the bottom of the NCAA Web site home page.

The application deadline is August 18.

The NCAA received an independent report June 12 that recommends adjusting Division I enforcement and infractions procedures to manage risks and improve operational efficiencies.

Washington, D.C., attorney James C. Duff, recently appointed by Chief Justice John Roberts as Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, conducted the review.

The report recommends about 50 procedural changes, most that are intended to reduce the time and improve the operations involved in processing infractions cases.

The NCAA already has implemented some of the recommendations, such as hiring more staff to expedite processing of inquiries, and hiring a "reporter of decisions" to review infractions-related decisions, press releases, Web site publications and rules changes rendered by the Association for accuracy before being publicly released.

Other recommendations in the report include:

NCAA President Myles Brand said it is prudent for the Association to conduct periodic and independent reviews of its procedures to ensure they coincide with the best legal and ethical practices.

"We see the results of this report and the consideration of the recommendations enabling the NCAA to not only process cases in a more timely way, but also reduce the risk to the NCAA through more careful scrutiny of the way in which we manage cases," he said.