The 12 members of the Atlantic Coast Conference may have initially banded together in an effort to flex their collective athletics muscle, but presidents of ACC institutions now are using the relationship to foster enhanced academic opportunities for all students at their institutions through the league’s Inter-institutional Academic Collaborative.

The effort serves as an umbrella for a number of outreach efforts, including collaborative study-abroad programs involving many ACC institutions. Among them are the exchange of best practices among global and international offices of all league schools, and a Ph.D student-exchange program that grants selected doctoral students access to specialized or unique resources at other ACC schools (and provides relocation assistance).

Other programs include an undergraduate research conference, chief technology officers’ roundtables, chief procurement officers’ conference calls, and video and audio conferences on various topics.

“The presidents, in particular, wanted to take advantage of all the athletics relationships among our institutions to build and enrich the relationships in the academic domain,” said David Brown, program coordinator and professor emeritus at Wake Forest University.

Although the Collaborative was established in 1999 with the doctoral student-exchange program, Brown said an allocation by the presidents from the recently established conference football championship game has allowed the program to expand its scope to international affairs.  

Student-athletes among those hitting the Rhodes

Four NCAA student-athletes are among the 32 American students most recently named as Rhodes Scholars. Alison Crocker, skiing, Dartmouth College; Nicholas M. Schmitz, gymnastics, U.S. Naval Academy; Garrett W. Johnson, track and field, Florida State University; and Nicholas A. Juravich, cross country and track and field, University of Chicago, were awarded Rhodes Scholarships for study at the University of Oxford in England, beginning this October.

Croker, a double major in physics and mathematics and an all-American skier, will pursue a doctorate in astrophysics, and Schmitz, who is majoring in political science and economics with a minor in Japanese at Navy, will complete studies in political theory. Johnson, an all-American thrower and one of the top 25 shot putters in the world majored in political science and English literature and will pursue a degree in development studies. Juravich, captain of the cross country and track and field teams and a history major at Chicago, plans to earn a master’s degree in economic and social history.

About 85 Rhodes Scholars are selected worldwide each year. The 32 American students, who were chosen from 903 applicants, will join a larger group of scholars chosen from 13 other regions of the world, including Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Kenya, New Zealand and India.

Soccer organization’s goal is to renew game in Gulf

The United States Youth Soccer Association wants to get the ball rolling again — literally — in the Gulf Coast region by awarding grants to help restore soccer programs in communities affected by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.

US Youth Soccer, the largest youth sports organization in the nation, distributed 40 sets of goals to five soccer clubs in Mississippi in response to a request from the Mississippi Youth Soccer Association.

According to Todd Roby, manager of communications for US Youth Soccer, the organization and its members have contributed $30,000 in cash and waived about $70,000 in fees to fuel the renewal effort. State associations and local members also have donated. 

A second round of grants is planned; however, local groups are still evaluating needs as many playing fields are still being used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as living and parking areas.

Contributions, preferably in cash since equipment needs may vary, may be sent to the US Youth Soccer Foundation, US Youth Soccer National Office, 9220 World Cup Way, Frisco, Texas 75034. Donations also will be accepted online beginning this month.