Jan 12, 2010 11:50:52 PM

ATLANTA – This week, the entire Division III membership is being asked to become a full partner in putting a new strategic-positioning platform to work.

The platform, the first product of an ongoing "identity initiative," will be unveiled Friday morning during the Division III issues forum, a session that the division's leaders are billing as the highlight of this year's Convention.

The presidents who have led the initiative to his point believe the platform will guide how the division identifies and promotes itself – and even how it conducts its business – for years to come.

As the focal point of this year's Convention, the unveiling of the platform actually is a hand-off of sorts: Division III's membership is being asked to take the ball and run with it.

Delegates attending the issues forum (scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday in the Marriott Marquis' Atrium Ballroom) will be provided with a detailed report on the platform, see the first creative expressions of its ideas and learn about resources that the division's leadership is proposing to support the initiative.

Perhaps most important, delegates will be urged to begin helping to put the platform's words into action, by drawing from their experience at the campus and community level to suggest effective tools for activation. They will have their first opportunity to recommend ways to do so in roundtable discussions during the forum.

The key to the platform is a positioning statement that describes Division III as a place where student-athletes can discover and develop their potential and dedicate themselves to learning and growth. It describes a campus experience at member institutions that blends rigorous academic study, passionate participation in competitive sports and opportunities to explore many interests.

The platform also lists attributes of Division III and identifies benefits of the Division III experience for various groups, including student-athletes and their parents as well as campus constituencies and the general public.

Delegates will learn more Friday about proposed financial support for targeting those audiences. The Division III Strategic Planning and Finance Committee recently recommended devoting $1.2 million in funding to the initiative over a two-year period beginning in fall 2010, including allocations of $1,000 annually to each Division III institution and conference for local activation.

Time also has been scheduled during Saturday morning's general business session to permit further discussion of the initiative, including any feedback that may result from the issues forum or from conference meetings.

The Convention also will feature discussion of other important issues, including consideration of nine legislative proposals during the general business session. Adoption of one of those proposals would add language for the first time to the Division III philosophy statement supporting presidential responsibility for and authority over conduct of intercollegiate athletics at the institutional, conference and national levels.

More than 120 Division III institutional presidents have preregistered to attend this year's Convention, and in addition to participating in that vote, they also can expect to hear more about ways in which the division's leadership hopes to promote a more strategic role for presidents in oversight of athletics.

Also planned during the week are an educational forum on a possible academic-reporting program in Division III (9:30 a.m. Thursday in the Marriott's Imperial Ballroom B) and a review of this year's legislative proposals during the final half hour of Friday's issues forum.