The NCAA is in the process of collecting information from various constituent groups as part of the development of an Association strategic plan. The target date implementation of the plan is April 2004.

Personnel at member institutions should be aware that traveling students and staff potentially have been exposed to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), a life-threatening and contagious respiratory illness that has been reported in Asia, North America and Europe.

Most cases have been reported from southern China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Hanoi and Toronto. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that non-urgent travel to those places be postponed. Cases of SARS continue to be reported primarily among people who have had direct close contact with an infected person, such as those sharing a household with a SARS patient and health-care workers who did not use infection-control procedures while caring for a SARS patient.

The NCAA currently is accepting applications for its Leadership Institute for Ethnic Minority Males. The Institute is designed to prepare diverse leaders in intercollegiate athletics through a 12-month leadership-training and skills-development experience.

Enrollment will be limited. Each participant must complete four weekend development sessions on leadership and administration; human resource management; finance and fund-raising; and booster and public relations before enrolling in the week-long intensive workshop.

Additional information and application materials can be found on the NCAA Web site (www.ncaa.org) on the education programs, grant and research of the home page.

Registration materials for the 2003 NCAA regional rules-compliance seminars have been mailed to Divisions I, II and III compliance coordinators, conference commissioners, directors of athletics, faculty athletics representatives and senior woman administrators.

The mailing also was sent to individuals who attended a seminar last year but do not fall under the five institutional categories.

The seminar dates and sites are: May 7-9, Charlotte, North Carolina; May 21-23, Chicago; and June 4-6, Seattle.

For more information about the seminars, see NCAA Online (www.ncaa.org) under the Membership section. A list of current seminar attendees (listed by site) is located on the Web.