The evolution of the NCAA Regional Rules Seminars as the Association’s primary gathering place for campus personnel involved in rules compliance continues this spring with sessions in Boston and San Antonio.

Online registration opens at 11 a.m. Eastern time Monday (March 3) for the Boston seminar May 18-23 and the San Antonio seminar June 1-6 -- and both will offer a menu of Association-wide and division-specific sessions mixing hot topics, rules education and a bit of experimentation.

“The primary purpose of the seminars is to provide an educational forum for the compliance community,” said Lynn Holzman, NCAA director of membership services. “That includes institutional and conference compliance officers and others who are part of compliance on campus, such as faculty athletics representatives, individuals who certify eligibility, financial aid officers and academic advisors.

“Our purpose is to provide an educational setting and forum in which we can increase and enhance knowledge of the applicable rules in a variety of subject areas -- amateurism, financial aid, recruiting, academics, playing and practice seasons, all those things.”

Each location will again offer division-specific segments, including a choice in each city between Sunday-Tuesday and Wednesday-Friday segments for Division I institutions. Also planned at each location are one segment for Division II institutions and one for Division III institutions.

The NCAA began hosting the annual sessions during the late 1980s, but since the Association’s restructuring in 1997 -- and most noticeably during the past three years -- they have evolved into a membership gathering comparable to the NCAA Convention. The seminars, however, focus directly on the wide array of issues arising from maintaining a commitment to rules compliance -- and place an emphasis on improving knowledge.

“Attendance has increased over the  years, and I think that’s representative of the increased attention to compliance and visibility of compliance officers on campuses, as the membership deals with high-profile or even day-to-day compliance-oriented issues,” Holzman said. “Our goal is to provide a forum from which they have an opportunity to walk away with something they did not know when they decided to attend the particular segment of the seminar for their division.”

This year’s segments provide opportunities for attendees in all three divisions to experience something new.

In cooperation with the Collegiate Commissioners Association Compliance Administrators (CCACA), Division I will be experimenting with a separate 1 1/2-day track of programs for veteran compliance officers. Each Division I conference has been invited to select up to four individuals from conference schools who have five or more years of compliance experience to participate in the Advanced Pilot Track, which will provide an opportunity for attendees to share ideas on best practices in a variety of areas.

“This advanced track for Division I provides an opportunity for us to focus on those who are more experienced in the compliance area, and take the conversations, discussions and education to the next level,” said Holzman, who added the membership services staff and CCACA will evaluate whether to continue offering such programming.

However, veteran Division I compliance officers won’t be the only attendees benefiting from new programming. Although many of the sessions in the traditional Division I segments at each location focus as usual on recurring topics, all have been updated to reflect recent rules changes. A few -- such as a session addressing recently adopted baseball-specific legislation or a new opportunity during the Academic Performance Program track to participate in group discussion sessions -- continue a practice of providing programming focused on current hot topics.

Divisions II and III also are offering new programming rooted in current issues.

A pair of Division II sessions will focus on submitting information relevant to the Academic Success Rate and Academic Performance Census, and on issues related to international student-athletes.

Division III, meanwhile, is planning to devote the Monday afternoon of its segments in Boston and San Antonio to a discussion of membership structural issues, including results of the survey currently being conducted about whether the division should be restructured to accommodate continuing membership growth.

There also are programs touching on issues not only of concern from a compliance perspective, but topics like student-athlete well-being and gender equity.

“These are opportunities to address Association-wide issues or divisional issues that people who wear multiple hats on campuses need information about,” said Holzman, who also offered as another example of such programs the “lunch and learn” sessions planned in each city about the National Letter of Intent program that is now being administered by the NCAA Eligibility Center.

Dates for the Division I segments in Boston are May 18-20 (Sunday through Tuesday morning) and May 21-23 (Wednesday through Friday morning), and the dates for Division I in San Antonio are June 1-3 (Sunday through Tuesday morning) and June 4-6 (Wednesday through Friday morning). The Academic Performance Program track will be offered Tuesday during the week of seminars at each location.

The Division II segments will be May 21-23 in Boston and June 4-6 in San Antonio, and the Division III segments will be May 18-19 in Boston and June 1-2 in San Antonio.