Calendar

DIVISION III

Financial aid reporting test yields encouraging results

The Division III Financial Aid Review Task Force and the Division III Financial Aid and Awards Committee met December 9 in Chicago to review results from the recently completed "pre-pilot" testing of the electronic financial aid reporting process that will be presented to Division III members at the 2004 Convention.

Results from the pre-pilot indicated that the participating schools completed the compilation and reporting of data in an average of two days, with much of that time devoted to learning how to gather the data and establishing campus systems for compilation and reporting.

Task force and committee members concluded that pre-pilot results indicate the reporting process, which will compare institutions' financial aid packaging for freshman and incoming transfer student-athletes with other incoming students, will provide a useful compliance tool for use by institutions in monitoring adherence to the core Division III tenet of no athletics aid and the related legislative criteria established in Bylaw 15.4.1. Staff contact: Dan Dutcher (ddutcher@ncaa.org).

HONORS PROGRAM

Today's Top VIII named; other awards cite valor, inspiration

Eight outstanding student-athletes will be honored for their athletics successes, academic accomplishments and service to the community as the 2004 NCAA Today's Top VIII. The group, which was selected by the NCAA Honors Committee, will be honored January 11 during the Honors Dinner at the 98th annual NCAA Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Today's Top VIII are: Alice (Duesing) Nightingale, Lake Superior State University, basketball; Andrew Hilliard, University of St. Thomas (Minnesota), football and track and field; Craig Krenzel, Ohio State University, football; Theresa Kulikowski, University of Utah, gymnastics; Kara Lawson, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, basketball; Eli Manning, University of Mississippi, football; Kristin Sterner, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, gymnastics; and Leoandra Willis, University of California, Los Angeles, gymnastics.

The Honors Committee also will present only the 10th NCAA Award of Valor since the honors program's inception, and will honor three recipients with the NCAA Inspiration Award.

This year's recipient of the Award of Valor is Jimmy Baxter, a basketball and track and field student-athlete at the University of South Florida. The Inspiration Awards will be presented to Mike Nyeholt, a former swimmer at the University of Southern California; Emily Miller, a soccer student-athlete at the University of Tennessee, Martin; and Heather Denison, a volleyball student-athlete at the University of Portland.

Staff contact: John Johnson (jjohnson@ncaa.org).

COMPLIANCE

Membership services staff will test 'video magazine'

The NCAA membership services staff is conducting a pilot program that features information delivery in an online "video magazine" format.

The pilot will begin later this month with delivery of the first of three scheduled "Vmags" to Division I compliance coordinators. The video magazines are about 10 minutes in length and are designed to provide information in a more appealing format than typical methods of delivery (e-mail, hard-copy). They include such content as timely legislative updates, recent interpretations and a section on technology in compliance.

Program administrators say if successful, this method of delivery could be used to reach CEOs, student-athletes, coaches and other key constituents.

Compliance coordinators will be surveyed, probably with the second or third issue of the Vmag, on whether the system is an effective information delivery tool.

Staff Contact: Dave Schnase (dschnase@ncaa.org).

CONVENTION

Walter Byers scholars to be recognized at reception

The two winners of the 2003 Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship will be recognized during the delegates reception January 10 at the NCAA Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.

The program includes remarks from NCAA President Myles Brand about the various scholarship programs offered by the NCAA, and comments from Richard Gropper, athletics director at the University of North Florida and a member of the NCAA Walter Byers Scholarship Committee, about this year's recipients of the Byers awards.

The 2003 Byers scholars are University of North Dakota football student-athlete McLain "Mac" Schneider and Natalie Halbach, a gymnast from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Staff Contact: Corey Bray (cbray@ncaa.org).