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.
Celebrate graduating women for their academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership with a nomination for NCAA Woman of the Year. Each member school can nominate up to two graduating female student-athletes if at least one of the nominees is a student-athlete of color or international student-athlete. Submit your school’s nomination(s) through the NCAA Program Hub by 5 p.m. Eastern time Friday, June 21. Visit ncaa.org/woty for details.
Please complete this short survey to help the Division III Convention Planning Subcommittee determine the Division III educational sessions and Issues Forum roundtable topics.
Division III Diversity Grant Recipients
Twenty-one institutions and conference offices will receive diversity grants for the upcoming cycles of the Ethnic Minorities and Women’s Internship Grant (15 recipients) and the Strategic Alliance Matching Grant (six recipients). Committees consisting of membership representatives select the grant recipients. Successful grant applications encourage the access, recruitment, selection and long-term success of ethnic minorities and women in Division III athletics administration and coaching. The full list of recipients can be found here.
Academic Portal
The Academic Portal is open to enter the required federal graduation rate and Academic Success Rate data. Enter the data, which is due June 1, under the “Graduation Rates” tab in the portal. Contact Sadie Martinez with any questions.
Division III Health and Safety Survey
Thank you to the institutional health care administrators that participated in this year’s health and safety survey. The survey collected information on the administrative and organizational aspects of Division III sports medicine programs. Data from the survey will allow schools to assess how they compare on issues related to athletics health care delivery and administration. The aggregate and institutional survey data is now available through the Division III Institutional Performance Program.
Sports Sponsorship and Demographic Form
The Sports Sponsorship and Demographic Form is now open. Completing the form is a membership requirement, and it must be submitted no later than Sunday, June 30. If you have additional questions, please contact Sadie Martinez or Nan Thomas.
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:
May 7 – Recap of Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Management and Presidents Council Meetings.
June 4 – Athletic Training Working Group Updates.
Aug. 6 – Recap of SAAC, Management and Presidents Council Meetings.
All past webinar PowerPoints are on the Division III webinar webpage.
Bylaw 16.1 defines the limits on awards a student-athlete may receive for participation in athletics while representing the school. It’s important to keep in mind that any award provided to a student-athlete for participation in athletics while representing the school that exceeds the limits defined in 16.1 would be considered an extra benefit and would typically impact a student-athlete’s eligibility and involve restitution to reinstate the student-athlete’s eligibility. The limitations in Bylaw 16.1 apply to both currently enrolled student-athletes and student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility but remain enrolled at the school.
Figures 16-1 (Participation Awards), 16-2 (Championship Awards) and 16-3 (Special Achievement Awards) of the NCAA Division III Manual outline the limits regarding the maximum value of the awards, the number of times the award can be provided and who can provide the awards. Besides cost and frequency, athletics department and schools must also be aware that some awards are not permissible as awards for representing the school. These include cash, gift certificates/cards that are redeemable for cash, and country or sport club memberships (Bylaw 16.1.3).
NEW Interpretation
Staff interpretation: Individual Sport Student-Athlete Declaring as a Professional (III). The academic and membership affairs staff determined that student-athletes participating in an individual sport do not become ineligible for intercollegiate athletics in their sport by solely declaring themselves as professional when registering for athletics events. The student-athletes become professional and will jeopardize their amateurism status by receiving prize money above actual and necessary expenses or payment (directly or indirectly) for their athletics participation.
NEW Educational Column
Educational column: Mental Health Hardship Waiver Pilot Program. This new educational column will help to address application questions in relation to the two-year pilot program concerning hardship waiver requests based on a student-athlete’s mental health condition.
NCAA Division III Amendment Procedures for the 2025 NCAA Convention
Information related to submitting new legislative amendments for the 2025 NCAA Convention is now available on the NCAA website. All materials regarding this mailing can be accessed by clicking this link. Any questions regarding legislative procedures, the amendment-to-amendment or the resolution processes should be referred to Jeff Myers (jmyers@ncaa.org) or Sarah Turner (sturner@ncaa.org).
Sports Sponsorship Participation and Demographics Form Waiver
If your institution did not meet sports sponsorship requirements for the 2023-24 school year, you should consider filing a sports sponsorship waiver via Requests/Self-Reports Online. We recommend reviewing the Filing a Division III Sports-Sponsorship Waiver Request resource. If you have additional questions, please contact Eric Hartung at ehartung@ncaa.org.
UPCOMING DEADLINE: Faculty Athletics Representatives Association
The Faculty Athletics Representatives Association is soliciting nominations for the 2024 FAR of the Year and Newcomer of the Year. The awards will be presented at the 2024 FARA Annual Meeting, which will be held Nov. 14-16 in Dallas. The deadline for nominations is June 1. For additional information about the awards, click here. Additionally, FARA is soliciting nominations for divisional representatives on the FARA Executive Committee. For information about the nomination process and the nomination form, click here.
2024 NCAA Regional Rules Seminar
Mark your calendars and register for the 2024 NCAA Regional Rules Seminar happening June 12-14 in Las Vegas. Join us for over 100 program offerings and make the most of this educational event.
To help you plan, several seminar sessions begin the morning of Wednesday, June 12, and conclude by late afternoon Friday, June 14. For additional resources to plan your seminar experience, individuals are encouraged to review the frequently asked questions about the seminar; the seminar daily schedule; and the first-time attendee educational track offerings.
The membership celebrated the 13th annual Division III Week from April 1-7. Content surrounding the 2024 celebration featured highlights of the division’s partnership with Special Olympics, academic achievement, athletics success, community service and more. Division III raised $10,000 for Special Olympics North America through an initiative to gain followers on the division’s social media accounts. The DIII membership also participated in a joint social media blast to kick off the week, which had both #D3week and #WhyD3 trending nationally.
St. Olaf won the annual #D3Week video contest with this submission. While planning for next year's event, remember to use resources and check for updates at the Division III Week website.
DEADLINE APPROACHING: 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 May 15. For more information, click here.
Spring Selection Shows
The spring championship season has arrived! To view a list of dates and times for the spring selection shows, click here.
Media Coordination/Statistics Staff Contacts
To find information about whom to contact at the NCAA for media coordination and statistics, the 2023-24 assignments can be found here.
LGBTQ Athletics Department/Conference of the Year.
Click here to read about the 2023 Division III LGBTQ of the Year recipients that were announced at the 2024 NCAA Convention.
The application process for all three awards is available on NCAA Program Hub until 5 p.m. Eastern time Friday, May 31. The honorees within each category will be recognized on ncaa.org, in the Division III monthly update and on Division III social media channels. Additionally, award recipients will be announced at a recognition event at the 2025 NCAA Convention.
Diversity Spotlight Initiative
The University Athletic Association is the recipient of this month’s Diversity Spotlight award. The conference completed successful social media campaigns for both Black History Month and Women’s History Month. During Black History Month, the league featured 165 current and former student-athletes, coaches and administrators through social media posts and various feature stories. During Women’s History Month, the University Athletic Association put together a short write-up for each of the 47 women’s teams that have won NCAA championships, while also featuring 15 women individually.
The Diversity Spotlight Initiative recognizes and promotes outstanding diversity development projects, programming and initiatives occurring on Division III campuses and in conference offices. Each month an institution or conference is identified by the selection committee to be featured on the DIII webpage and in the DIII Monthly Update. In addition, the featured institution or conference office receives $500 toward its next diversity initiative. Click here for more information.
The NCAA Division III Special Olympics Spotlight Poll is a storytelling initiative on ncaa.org/D3SpecialOlympics. It features new stories each month that highlight a Division III and Special Olympics joint activity or event. That school or conference receives $500 to use for its next Special Olympics event. Written and digital submissions both are accepted. Featured stories are selected based on inclusion of the student-athlete perspective and Division III messaging. To submit a story for consideration, email d3specialolympics@ncaa.org.
The winner for the month of April was Cornell College (IA). The Rams hosted a Unified Sports Day for youth athletes through Special Olympics Iowa. Athletes who attended participated in seven stations, getting the chance to experience multiple sports.
Conference Coordinators of Officials Positions Added to NCAA Directory. Sport-specific coordinator of officials positions have been added to the NCAA Directory for all sports and divisions. Conferences should add contact information for its coordinators of officials through the steps here. By adding this contact information to the NCAA Directory, the NCAA will be able to enhance communication efforts with all conferences, including copying conference coordinators on championship, officiating and playing rules updates and important communications involving ejections and suspensions of student-athletes/coaches within their conference
Conference Administrators Positions Added to NCAA Directory. Sport-specific conference administrator positions have been added to the NCAA Directory for all sports and divisions. Conferences should add contact information for these positions through the steps here. By adding this contact information to the NCAA Directory, the NCAA will be able to enhance communication efforts with all conferences, including copying these administrators on championship, officiating and playing rules updates and important communications involving ejections and suspensions of student-athletes/coaches within their conference.
Soccer:
The Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved the men’s and women’s soccer proposed rules changes for the 2024 and 2025 seasons. The rules changes may be viewed here.
Softball:
The 2024 playing rules survey opened April 22 and will close May 24. Head coaches, conference coordinators and registered umpires should have received a link to the survey via email. Conference commissioners, athletics directors and senior woman administrators may take the survey via the link in NCAA Weekly or through the survey page.
Officiating:
Learning Portal Module Available. The NCAA has partnered with Officially Human to develop a learning module, Elevate Respect, to improve student-athlete, coach and fan behavior directed at officials. This course is available on the NCAA Learning Portal. To access the course, log in to the Learning Portal on MyApps through ncaa.org. In the search feature at the top of the main page, enter “Elevate Respect,” enroll in the course and begin learning. This course is a great opportunity to engage with student-athletes before the season starts to emphasize positive sportsmanship and engagement with officials during competition or as a remediation tool during the season.
RefReps. The NCAA has entered an alliance with RefReps (www.refreps.com) to provide comprehensive sports officiating education curriculum, training materials and resources for 15 different sports. This curriculum is designed for sports officiating to be taught in the collegiate classroom. For schools already offering sports officiating courses, we believe these materials would positively enhance your programs and streamline your efforts to develop and procure resources. For institutions not currently offering a sports officiating course, these materials are academically rigorous enough to serve as the entire foundation for one. Please check out refreps.com and contact Kyle Armstrong and team at hype@refreps.com to learn more about the opportunity to join this NCAA-supported initiative to help address the national shortage of sports officials.
The Eligibility Center recently hosted a webinar specific for Division III. This NCAA Eligibility Center webinar included information on some of the most frequently asked questions about the Division III certification process. To view a recording of the webinar, click here. Additionally, key updates came from the April Newsletter.
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.
