As the NCAA settles into its second century, much about intercollegiate athletics’ governing body remains the same — the commitment to fair play, the concern for student-athlete safety and well-being, the strident belief that participation in college sports enhances the educational experience.

At the same time the face of intercollegiate athletics has changed — literally.

These days, athletics administrators, coaches and student-athletes from an array of backgrounds populate athletics departments and dominate the courts, fields and mats of competition. As the Association begins a new chapter in its history, it also is recommitting its efforts to achieve a better understanding of the benefits of diversity and inclusion.

Last month, the NCAA Diversity Education series returned to the lineup of diversity and inclusion programming after a year off to retool and recalibrate the message.

"Based on input we received from the membership recently, the Diversity Education sessions were the most mentioned programs from our membership that enhance diversity and inclusion within their individual athletics departments," said Charlotte Westerhaus, NCAA vice president for diversity and inclusion.

Westerhaus said the decision to revise the series came after a recent review of all diversity programming revealed that the material covered in the workshops hadn’t been updated in nearly 10 years. Not only had new and different diversity-related topics emerged in the intervening years, but Westerhaus said the diversity and inclusion department wanted to ensure the information was timely, relevant and fit the membership’s present needs.

Though the series retained its two-tiered structure of fundamental and advanced workshops and continues to be offered on campuses at minimal cost to institutions, the result of the extensive makeover is an up-to-date, highly interactive set of educational sessions that focus on tackling the familiar issues in fresh ways.

The revamped fundamentals workshop, now called "Understanding Diversity and Creating Community," teaches individuals how to manage working relationships with student-athletes, coaches, athletics administrators, faculty and staff at institutions and conferences through knowledge, awareness, cultural competence, and practice and application to college sport. Course designer Richard Lapchick said the combination of identifying issues, frank discussion and generating concrete proposals for change are the most important components.

"I continue to find when I visit college campuses some lingering attitudinal problems in the department," he said. "There aren’t enough opportunities, for example, for women to talk about what may be holding them back, or for why people of color feel that they are not welcome."

Lapchick, director of the National Consortium for Academics and Sports, emphasized that the fundamentals course establishes a safe haven for those issues to be discussed respectfully.

"It’s a healthy atmosphere to be able to talk about what those issues might be and, once on the table and recognized by others, people are able to come up with action plans to address the specific issues," he said.

The fundamentals workshop also stresses that diversity is far broader than race and gender, said Stan Johnson, executive director of the Minority Opportunities Athletic Association and facilitator of the course.

"Our goal is to lay the foundation for understanding, embracing and championing diversity rather than regarding it as a substitute or replacement for affirmative action," Johnson said.

In addition to boosting interaction and encouraging individuals to express their opinions openly, the fundamentals workshop includes other subtle but significant changes. Most sessions are moderated by more than one facilitator to maximize small-group discussion and activities. The team of facilitators also represent the diversity being touted. In most cases, the trainers are former student-athletes who are familiar with the culture of intercollegiate athletics.

As in the past, once an institution or conference office has participated in the fundamentals workshop, it becomes eligible for one more of the three advanced sessions on race, gender and sexual orientation. Each of those workshops has been enhanced with the most current data and research. A fourth workshop, which is new, called "Organizational Culture and Climate," serves as a follow-up to at least one of the advanced sessions. Westerhaus said member institutions wanted the additional segment to help them strategically plan the best ways to enhance diversity and inclusion within their own athletics departments.

David Hunt and Rodney Patterson of Critical Measures co-designed the workshop. Hunt said the race, gender and sexual orientation sessions have raised awareness and enhanced skills, but schools want something to help secure lasting institutional change. To that end, the new session encourages participants to look critically at their own organizational cultures. One of the key models explored in the workshop details how organizations move from being "monocultural" — where only one culture is valued — to being "multicultural," where individuals are truly accepted and not just tolerated.

"We realize and appreciate that we can’t force people to change their values," Hunt said. "NCAA institutions can’t force athletics directors, coaches or student-athletes to change their values, but they can and have every right to regulate their behavior. We’ve put a premium on understanding the behaviors associated with different levels of treatment and making people aware that their unconscious attitudes toward people often show up in their behavior."

The newest advanced workshops are expected to debut later this spring.

Ultimately, Westerhaus said her staff expects multiple outcomes from the redesigned series, including an increase in the number of institutions able to take advantage of the training. Westerhaus also hopes the workshops give institutions access to a program that fits their needs.

Most importantly, though, Westerhaus wants the new menu to be an effective and useful tool for all institutions. The fundamentals course was unveiled last November at Dominican University (Illinois). Cristin Lukas, head softball coach, athletics department business manager and senior woman administrator at the school, had been through the previous version of diversity training and wanted student-athletes, coaches and staff to experience it as well. Facilitators paced the staff through a four-hour session and moderated a two-hour workshop for student-athletes.

"It was an eye-opener for a lot of people," said Lukas.

She noted one exercise in particular, the "Tug of Words," as especially effective in generating open discussion. The activity requires each participant to either agree or disagree with an introductory statement. The goal for each side was to convince those who could not decide on a position to see their point of view.

"It was a good open forum for people to debate issues," Lukas said. "Some really good discussions took place with the student-athletes as well. Some took a stand and went against the group. Others would ask questions about why they felt that way. They weren’t coming down on that person; they were asking to better understand their viewpoint. It was a valuable experience for students to have those conversations."

Johnson said it will be important to keep those discussions going.

"Four years from now there will be a whole new group of students. What will that student makeup look like as the demographics change in our society?" Johnson said. "Those are the kinds of things that colleges and universities need to address if they want to competitive."