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NCAA News Archive - 2007
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Division II Summit notes
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Division II’s leadership in the community took another step forward when Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Chair Megan Burd told summit attendees that SAAC had raised more than $150,000 this year for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, well over the SAAC’s goal of $100,000. Also, the six homes student-athletes worked on during the National Championships Festival in Pensacola will be dedicated July 30 … But not everyone is hearing the Division II story. Karen Morse of Western Washington University talked about the challenges her school faces in the Division I-dominated media market. She said in a meeting with the publisher of the Seattle Times, who was giving the commencement speech at Western Washington, she proudly reviewed her athletics program’s accomplishments both in competition and in the community. “The editor said, ‘That’s good stuff. Why aren’t you Division I?’ ” Morse said. To that end, the national office staff is planning a media tour this fall to five or six markets to tell the Division II story. Pfeiffer University President Charles Ambrose and Division II Vice President Mike Racy will be involved … In an effort to maintain the presidential leadership that has been so important to Division II, St. Thomas Aquinas College President Margaret Mary Fitzpatrick urged her colleagues to get involved in the Division II governance structure. “Call the national office and tell them your areas of interest,” she said. “Presidential leadership manifests itself in your involvement in the Division II system.” … Consultant Rich Luker, who has been instrumental in Division II’s community-engagement initiative, said, “In Orlando, I heard you say ‘we should’ when it came to community engagement. In San Diego I’m here to tell you that you did. You built something palpable. Community engagement is not just a sports initiative, but for the colleges to be the front door to the community.” … It came early in the proceedings, but NCAA Senior Vice President Bernard Franklin may have had the best last word when he said, “What a difference a summit makes. We found our center, a sense of balance. We now have a powerful tool to market our Division II identity.”
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