Landmark Conference Collaboration/Integration Institute Summaries

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The Landmark Conference Academic Collaboration / Integration Institute ---Summary (2008)

The Institute was held on February 5 and 6th 2008 at the Hyatt Regency Washington D.C. on Capitol Hill.

The Institute started promptly at 4 pm, as scheduled.

The Institute was attended by the Landmark Conference’s 8 Chief Executive Officers (CEO’s); 8 Chief Academic Officers (CAO’s); 8 Faculty Athletics Representatives (FAR’s); 8 Student Athlete Advisory Committee Advisors (SAAC Advisors); 8 Athletics Directors (AD’s); 16 Conference Student Athlete Advisory Committee Members (SAAC Members); The Conference’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee Advisor; the 2 members of the Conference office staff and four guests: 2 Assistants to their President, guest speaker Dan Dutcher and the Centennial Conference Commissioner. The total number in attendance for the Institute was 63. Most all of the attendees were present throughout all sessions of the Institute.

Session # 1: 4-5:30 pm. Tuesday February 5. Dan Dutcher, NCAA Vice President for Division III, brought the group up to date on “The Status of Discussions Related to Membership Growth and Structure in NCAA Division III”. The presentation was followed by questions and answers.

Activity # 1: 5:30-6:30 pm. A Social Reception was held and attended by all Institute participants. Shortly before 6 pm the CEO’s, Dan Dutcher and the Conference office staff left for the Annual Meeting of the Chief Executive Officers held on the campus of The Catholic University of America.


Activity # 2: 6:30-8:30 pm. Each constituency (CAO’s, FAR’s, AD’s and the invited Conference Commissioner, SAAC Advisors, SAAC Member’s, (divided in two groups and accompanied by in one case an Assistant to a President and in the other by the Conference SAAC Advisor) had dinner together. The purpose of the dinner was largely to develop fellowship but discussion of Institute topics did in most cases ensue.

Activity # 3: 7:30-8:00 am. Wednesday February 6. Continental Breakfast was served for all attendees.

Session # 2: 8:15-9:15 am. Five “breakout” groups were designated: 1) CEO’s, AD’s, Conference Commissioner and Centennial Conference Commissioner. Tom Kepple, chair of the CEO Executive Board was the discussion leader for this group; 2) CAO’s, James Brennan, Provost at Catholic University led this discussion; 3) FAR’s. Robert Lewand, Professor at Goucher College led this group; 4) SAAC Advisors. Dawn Ketterman Benner, Conference SAAC Advisor led this group. 5) SAAC members. This group discussion was moderated by the Joel Cookson, Assistant Conference Commissioner and Julie Del Giorno, Assistant to the President at Moravian College.
During this session discussion topics included: the future of Division III in the NCAA; enhancing sportsmanship among athletes, fans and coaches within the conference; the role of athletics in the DIII community; integration of faculty into athletics and finally, academic collaboration in areas such as study abroad, research and grant submissions.

Session # 3: 9:20-10 am. Six mixed groups composed of at least one CEO, CAO, AD, FAR, SAAC Advisor and two SAAC members broke out to discuss the same issues discussed at the previous session, but with a more diverse grouping.

Session # 4: 10:30-11:15 am: The group leaders identified in Session # 2 above, and Paul Moyer representing the AD’s, provided feedback to the entire group. Each leader was asked, in advance, to provide at least one action item for the Conference Office to work on, in cooperation with the appropriate constituency(s), during calendar year 2008.

The following items were forwarded to the Conference Office, by one of the following groups: the Chief Academic Officers, the SAAC Advisors and Members or the Athletics Directors for follow up in calendar year 2008:

• Schedule a conference call with the CEO’s before February 29, 2008 to discuss The NCAA Division III Membership Survey {this has been arranged for February 25 at 2PM}

• Work with other Conference Commissioners to discuss the future of Division III Membership Structure

• Collect information concerning alumni contacts for particular institutions in areas where away contest are held so that the alumni can be informed of the team visits and perhaps arrange attendance and possibly receptions

• Use the Landmark Conference Website to highlight the academic achievements of our student-athletes, much as we do the athletic achievements. {after the Institute it was determined that this item does not imply ranking individual or Institutional performance—to do so, as concluded earlier in discussions among our athletics directors would be comparing differing grading criteria}

• Create a structure that insures that student voices are heard by administrators on an ongoing basis

• Schedule another Conference SAAC meeting in the Spring and schedule at least two meetings a year for this group

• Continue to address sportsmanship issues with coaches, student-athletes, parents of student-athletes and fans

• Continue to investigate with the NCAA and our institutions the challenges that our current multi-regional alignment presents

• Continue process to nominate a National SAAC Representative to the NCAA for our conference

• Create a Landmark Conference Brochure that highlights each institution and illustrates what the conference is all about

• Define what we are as a conference for the purposes of possible NCAA restructuring

• Highlight sportsmanship as an educational value

• Discuss cost containment within our conference and continue to seek sponsorship

• Continue in the sharing and compilation of information for the good of the conference

Additionally two of the constituencies set action items for the conference to address in consultation with their group:

The Faculty Athletics Representatives proposed that the Conference Office:

• Work to create/expand “ faculty coach of the week” programs on campus

• Explore ways to help student-athletes use their athletic experience to market themselves in job searches/interviews

• Organize a student research program that could rotate among Landmark Institutions

• Create a short duration courses (2-week/summer) that could allow Landmark Conference students to spend time on other campuses

The Chief Academic Officers proposed that the Conference Office:

• Facilitate interaction for students/groups that do not interact more broadly on campus because of uniqueness and use these interactions to create a larger affinity group with other institutions

• Collaborate with campus experts relative to study abroad programs to determine if working together is feasible and could reduce costs

• Consider faculty development initiatives that could bring together faculty from each institution within the Conference.

Session # 5: 11:15-12:15 pm. Moravian’s President Christopher Thomforde delivered the closing speech titled: “Educating the Body and Mind for Service”. During the Luncheon that followed more than one Physical Educator/Coach/Administrator commented that the speech reminded them as to why they entered this profession in the beginning of their career.

Activity # 4: 12:20-1 pm: a buffet lunch was served. Almost all of the participants stayed and discussed the Institute.

The Landmark Conference 2nd Academic Collaboration / Integration Institute ---Summary (2009)

The Institute was held on February 3rd and 4th 2008 at the Liasion Hotel on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.

The Institute started promptly at 3:30 pm, as scheduled.

The Institute was attended by the Landmark Conference’s 8 Chief Executive Officers (CEO’s); 8 Athletics Directors (AD’s); 16 Conference Student Athlete Advisory Committee Members (SAAC Members); 32 Head Coaches; the 2 members of the Conference office staff and four guests: guest speaker Janet Judge. The total number in attendance for the Institute was 70. Most all of the attendees were present throughout all sessions of the Institute.

Session # 1

3:30-3:55 pm. Tuesday February 3. Joel Cookson, Assistant Landmark Conference Commissioner, “Retrospective: where we were and where we are today”. A summary of the Landmark Conference 1st Academic Collaboration / Integration Institute, as well as a report on the progress made relative to each action item resulting from the 2008 Institute.

5:30-6:30 pm. “Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct and Student – Athlete Welfare in sport for the student-athlete, coach, parent(s) and the fan(s)”

Janet P. Judge, attorney at law, the interactive session featured feedback from roundtable discussions of a mix of different participants.

5:35 pm. Chief Executive Officers and conference office staff attended their annual dinner meeting at the residence of the Very Reverend David M. O’Connell, C.M.

5:35-6:50 pm. Dinner was served to the remaining group in a roundtable setting. Each table included at least one athletic director who provided guidance to focus the discussion on various pre-determined issues. In addition to the Athletics Director there were two student-athletes from different institutions and four head coaches from four different institutions at each table.
Discussion topics included:

1. Should Leadership in athletics be considered in the awarding of financial aid in Division III.
2. Legislation passed: certification in first-aid, CPR and AED for head coaches.
3. Sportsmanship among fans, parents, coaches and student–athletes.
4. Nutrition for student–athletes
5. Division III philosophy and marketing
6. Pre-game music as it relates to Sportsmanship
7. Facebook issues
8. The lack of female head coaches

7:00 pm. Student-athletes and head coaches attended the Georgetown vs. Rutgers men’s basketball game at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C.

9:00-11 pm. A social reception was held at the hotel. Student-athletes were presented with a leather folder with the Landmark Conference logo embroidered on the front as tokens of appreciation.

Session # 2

7:30-8 am. Continental breakfast was served for all attendees.

Activity #1: 8:15-10 am. Athletic Directors met with the Chief Executive Officers to discuss various topics such as:

Working together and advancing academic issues
Data sharing
Cost containment
Should Leadership in athletics be considered in the awarding of financial-aid?
NCAA membership growth issues
Sports sponsorship: softball, women’s lacrosse and golf
Sportsmanship
Student-athlete welfare issues

Activity #2: 8:15-9 am. Student-athletes met to discuss and advance the agenda that resulted from the fall 2008 meeting at Moravian and other various NCAA “hot topics”.
The group discussed the development of a Landmark Conference Sportsmanship Award and the parameters for this award. The finals results are as follows:
Criteria for Landmark Conference Sportsmanship Award (one per team):
The Department acknowledges that to promote the character development of its intercollegiate participants, and to enhance the integrity of higher education and promote civility in society, we have an obligation to ensure that all program participants adhere to the fundamental values of respect, fairness, civility, honesty and accountability. The Landmark Conference sportsmanship award is given to one member of each of our intercollegiate teams at our annual awards ceremony, regardless of their year in school. The award is designed to recognize a student-athlete who demonstrates these values in his/her interactions with teammates, opponents, officials and the coaching staff. The selection of the recipient of this award is the responsibility of each coaching staff and must be submitted 48 hours in advance of the ceremony.
Other discussion topics included the Landmark Conference SAAC bylaws; the developing relationship between SAAC and the Special Olympics; and the integration of student-athletes with other groups on campus.

Activity #3: 8:15-9am. Head coaches met to discuss various topics pertaining to the rewarding of financial aid as a result of athletic leadership; the importance of out of season practice; recruiting technologies; student-athlete nutrition; sportsmanship; and how the conference office can better meet the coach’s needs.

9-10 am. Student-athletes were given the opportunity to talk with Head Coaches as equals and voice their opinions and insight on the topics previously discussed.

10:15-11 am. NCAA national SAAC member Alex Kulp, and the Landmark SAAC officers, Bobby Piccardo and Katie Cordier) presented to the entire group national and local SAAC “hot topics”

11:05-11:30 am. Participants were served a buffet style lunch. Roundtable discussions were once again led by an Athletic Director with a focus on how to move forward on student-athlete welfare issues. Concerns were brought up regarding safety issues for student lifting programs and the coaches desire to monitor student-athletes and their routines to prevent injuries.

11:30-11:50 am. Presentations were made regarding “action items” for CEO’s, AD’s, Coaches, and SAAC for the Conference to address during 2009.

11:50 am-12:00 pm. “Where we are and what is Next”. Closing remarks were made by Chief Executive Board Chairman Christopher Thomforde.