This update is a tool to enhance communication between the NCAA national office and the Division III membership, with distribution to athletics directors, senior woman administrators, faculty athletics representatives, presidents, national SAAC, conference commissioners and the National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators listserv. We encourage athletics directors to share this communication with their athletics department members. Please contact Katie Mucci to include an item or share comments, and remember to check out the Division III governance homepage for the latest news and information.
Division III recently released its 2023-24 Annual Report. This reformatted report highlights the major events, award recipients, team champions, committee highlights and other notable achievements from the past academic year.
REGISTER NOW: Division III SAAC #ThriveTogether Virtual Town Hall
The Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Mental and Physical Health Subcommittee will be hosting a virtual town hall for student-athletes, coaches and administrators at 8 p.m. Eastern time Monday, Nov. 18. The town hall will feature Dr. Deena Casiero, the NCAA chief medical officer, and Kaya Mahy, a softball student-athlete at Muhlenberg College. To register, click here.
Diversity Grant Applications Open
Applications have opened for the Division III diversity grants. The grants provide funding to members committed to enhancing ethnic and racial minority and gender representation in athletics administration and assistant coaching positions. For more information and to apply, visit the Division III Diversity Grants page on ncaa.org. Grant proposals are due by January 27, 2025, at 5 p.m. Eastern. You can find the application on the NCAA Program Hub.
2025 NCAA Convention Resource Page
To access this year’s Convention resources, visit the 2025 Convention resource webpage. Staff will post key information (for example: the Official Notice, legislative proposal Q&A guide and education session PowerPoints) on this page as they become available.
2025 NCAA Convention — Student Attendees
Do you have a student from your institution who is attending the 2025 NCAA Convention? The student registration fee is $50, and students must register for the Convention and lodging in the same manner as all other delegates. (Note: Students serving on the national Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, SAAC associate members or students selected through the Division III Student Immersion Program will be registered for the Convention through a different process.) Click here for a chart that identifies programming the staff and Division III SAAC think will be beneficial to Division III student attendees.
NCAA Directory
As a reminder, contact information for all NCAA email communication is pulled directly from the NCAA Directory. Please ensure all contact information for the athletics department administration, head coaches and conference personnel is updated for the 2024-25 academic year. Incorrect or missing contact information may result in the appropriate people not receiving correspondence. Changes can be made throughout the year as needed. Should you have any questions about adding contact information to the NCAA Directory, please contact membershipdirectory@ncaa.org.
Brand Guidelines
Division III has released an updated brand guidelines document outlining proper logo use for the Division III mark, as well as a newly created DIII Week logo. The document also outlines the new NCAA championship branding and proper use.
Division III SWA Program
The NCAA Division III governance staff is excited to host the seventh annual Division III Senior Woman Administrator Program. Division III will provide funding for 30 senior woman administrators to attend a division-specific program March 10-11 at the NCAA national office in Indianapolis. The application process is now available on the NCAA Program Hub, titled “2025 Division III SWA Program.” Nomination and application materials must be submitted by 5 p.m. Eastern time Dec. 3.
Woman of the Year
The Woman of the Year Selection Committee announced the national Top 30 honorees for the 2024 NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Established in 1991, the award is rooted in Title IX and recognizes female student-athletes who have completed their undergraduate studies and distinguished themselves in their community, in athletics and in academics throughout their college careers. Selected from a record-breaking 627 nominees submitted by member schools — a group that was then narrowed to 168 nominees at the conference level — the Top 30 honorees include 10 from each of the three NCAA divisions.
Show Me the Money
Click here for a chart outlining Division III grants and programs available to the Division III membership. The chart also outlines application and selection timelines, as well as program benefits.
2025 Student Immersion Program
The tenth annual Division III Student Immersion Program will be Jan. 14-17 in conjunction with the NCAA Convention. A subgroup of the Division III Diversity and Inclusion Working Group selected this year’s participants, who consist of 40 students of color interested in a career in athletics. The selected students will be exposed to Division III, its members, and the governance process. In addition to taking part in the scheduled Division III Convention programming, participants will attend welcome and debriefing meetings, participate in a DISC assessment and be assigned to a mentor.
2024 NCAA Financial Reporting
2024 NCAA financial reporting is due Jan. 15. There are two methods to meet the constitutional requirement of reporting financial data annually.
Submit financial data to the NCAA via the Financial Reporting System.
Submit the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act Certificate of Completion to the NCAA via the Financial Reporting System.
The required financial data or EADA Certificate of Completion is submitted via the Membership Financial Reporting System located within My Apps (single-source sign-on), which can be accessed from NCAA.org. For information, contact Andrea Worlock at the national office.
Division III Webinars
Webinars will be from 1:30 to 2 p.m. Eastern time the first Tuesday of the month on the following dates and topics:
Nov. 5 — Recap of Management and Presidents Council meetings.
Dec. 3 — Academic and membership affairs review of 2025 Convention legislation.
Jan. 7 — Tips and tricks for new NCAA Convention attendees.
All past webinar PowerPoints are on the Division III webinar webpage.
There also will be a 30-minute webinar at 2 p.m. Eastern time Thursday, Nov. 14, that will outline strategies to apply for a Division III diversity grant.
Many college sports teams are preparing to transition from their traditional season to their nontraditional season, or vice versa. During this time, it is important to remember what social media accounts for your teams, departments or coaches (including strength and conditioning coaches) can post in and outside of the season.
During the declared playing season
May post photos/videos of in-season activities.
Outside the declared playing season
May not post voluntary workouts of or with student-athletes.
May not comment on or share enrolled student-athletes’ posts about out-of-season voluntary athletically related activities.
Student-athlete “takeovers” are OK, as long as they do not include any voluntary athletically related activities.
Division III University
Don’t forget about the library of e-learning modules known as Division III University. Two new modules — “Camps & Clinics” and “Fundraising” — were just added to the NCAA Learning Portal (accessed through NCAA MyApps) to help you educate your staff and coaches during the academic year. To access the Division III University modules, individuals must have an active NCAA MyApps account and be assigned NCAA Learning Portal access within MyApps. If you have questions regarding the NCAA Learning Portal, contact webhelpdesk@ncaa.org.
2025 NCAA Convention
As a reminder, per Bylaw 20.8.4.15 Convention and Regional Rules Seminar Attendance, each active member institution must be represented by an institutional staff member who is certified as a voting delegate and who votes for the institution at the NCAA Convention. Institutions must vote at the Friday Business Session to satisfy Bylaw 20.8.4.15. If you have questions regarding the Convention attendance requirement, please contact Eric Hartung at ehartung@ncaa.org.
Registration Open
The Convention will be held in Nashville, Tennessee, Jan. 14-17. The Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center will provide the meeting space and sleeping rooms. Visit the Convention page on ncaa.org for details on registration fees, the NCAA Convention schedule and much more.
IMPORTANT: NCAA Regional Rules Seminar — New Dates for 2025
Due to scheduling conflicts, the 2025 NCAA Regional Rules Seminar will now take place May 28-30 in Indianapolis. Educational sessions will run from Wednesday morning through Friday evening and include Association-wide programming and sessions for all three divisions. The NCAA Regional Rules Seminar is the premiere forum on NCAA legislation, athletics compliance and associated educational sessions. More information on registration and hotel information will be made available in early spring. Please contact ncaaregionalrulesseminars@ncaa.org with any questions.
Division III is looking to feature membership stories on social media and through NCAA.com. To share stories for consideration, please email Katie Mucci at kmucci@ncaa.org.
NCAA and D3SIDA Recognition Award
The NCAA Division III and D3SIDA Recognition Award seeks to honor the best work — including news releases, feature articles, videos, blogs and other materials — produced by Division III campus and conference athletics communication offices. Each top honoree will receive a $1,500 credit to attend Division III Day at the annual College Sports Communicators convention. The next submission deadline is Feb. 15. For more information, click here.
Media Coordination/Statistics Staff Contacts
To find information about whom to contact at the NCAA for media coordination and statistics, the current assignments can be found here.
Fall Selection Shows
Find more information on the Division III fall championship selections here.
Mental health exists on a continuum, with resilience and thriving on one end of the spectrum and mental health disorders that disrupt a student-athlete’s functioning and performance at the other. The NCAA strives to improve access to quality mental health care with the goal of creating a culture where seeking care for mental health issues is as normative as seeking care for physical injuries. This includes researching student-athlete mental health concerns and providing educational resources such as the NCAA’s Mental Health Best Practices.
Share the Special Olympics activities taking place on your campus or with your conference by filling out the Special Olympics reporting form here. You can also email stories about activities to d3specialolympics@ncaa.org.
RefQuest Plus. The NCAA has extended its current agreement with RefQuest Plus, its officiating services provider, and is implementing a long-term strategy to provide additional resources and tools to assist all conferences in addressing concerns about officiating. Starting with the 2024-25 academic year, the NCAA will cover the cost of the RQ+ officiating platform, including payment transaction fees and signature software costs, for Division II and III and single-sport conferences. More information is available here.
Softball
The Softball Rules Committee’s rules survey is available and will close Nov. 20. Head coaches were emailed a direct link Oct. 28. Administrators may access the survey through NCAA Weekly and the survey dashboard.
The following fall applications are now open and will close at 5 p.m. Eastern time Nov. 8. All the program application or nomination forms are available through the NCAA Program Hub.
Career in Sports Forum (Facilitators). Click here for more information.
Emerging Leaders Seminar. Click here for more information.
The NCAA and NFL Coaches Academy. Click here for more information.
Foundations of Fundraising. Click here for more information.
The Eligibility Center released its annual membership survey. Please fill out and provide feedback by the end of the day Nov. 24. Additionally, the annual update of the Guide for the Compliance Administrator was released. Please replace any old files you might have saved.
This email was sent to NCAA Division III presidents and chancellors, athletics direct reports, directors of athletics, faculty athletics representatives, senior woman administrators, sports information directors, directors of compliance, commissioners, assistant/associate commissioners, national Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, provisional, reclassifying and exploratory members based on contact information in the NCAA Directory.
