1. The meeting came to order at 10:30 a.m. Members attending were Faculty representatives Charlie Shub and Travis Peterson; Academic Coordinator Robert King; Executive Director of Student Support and Judicial Affairs Steve Linhart; Financial Aid representative Jennifer Fisher; SAAC representative Jason Shaver; Staff Representative Mark Janssen; and UBAC representative Al Schoffstall.
Also attending were Assistant Athletics Directors Jessica Wood Adkins and Nate Gibson.
2. The minutes of the December 2 meeting were approved without dissent.
3. Athletics Director's Report:
Assistant Directors Adkins and Gibson reported for Director Kirkham.
Assistant Athletics Director and Compliance Coordinator Adkins reported that after fall, 2009, the overall cumulative GPA of student athletes was 3.102. Moreover, Women's Volleyball had the highest female team cumulative GPA with 3.516 and Men's Basketball led the male teams with 3.221. Adkins said that National Letter of intent for track and soccer was coming up and the department expected to have a total of 45 official recruiting visits for these sports. Part of her job is to review high school transcripts before scholarship offers are made. Most students have already applied and are strong students so they will easily meet admission criteria.
Assistant Athletics Director and Director of Finance Gibson reported on budgetary issues. In general, non-scholarship income is derived from two sources, fundraising and student fees of $4.85 per credit hour. As enrollments grow, the income grows. On the expense side, the two major expenses are head coach salaries and travel. Assistant coaches are paid primarily from team or department fundraising efforts. In budgeting, the department tries to maintain gender equity within sports. The budgets for men's basketball and women's basketball are similar with differences arising mainly from differing travel requirements. Likewise the two soccer budgets are similar.
Director Kirkham is wearing an additional hat as woman's basketball coach. Those salary savings were used to help furnish the event center providing upgrades on scorers tables and team bench chairs.
Gibson is hopeful that with increased enrollment the training department can support 4 graduate assistants. That would allow assigning a trainer to each team. The current budget covers only 2 such slots. Professor Peterson noted that there might be some opportunities for the College of Nursing to cooperate in fining scholarship money to help in this area.
Scholarships come from a variety of sources. Student athletes receive about 260 thousand in merit and grant money, another 180 thousand in housing scholarships, about 50 thousand in endowment income and another 25 thousand from Ent Credit Union. Scholarship targets for specific sports are set by tier and in comparison with amounts awarded at other RMAC schools.
The athletics department does not fund academic support services, but the institution is well positioned in terms of academic support services. Most incoming student athletes are expected to enroll in freshman seminar. The early alert program allows identification of academic problems while they still can be corrected. The counseling and testing center proctors examinations at alternate times for student athletes who will be traveling at the regularly scheduled examination time. The learning centers and writing centers are as good as any school in the conference.
The following action items arose from these reports:
- Adkins to see if data is available on student athlete usage of learning centers
- Peterson to explore if his academic program can collaborate with athletics training for mutual benefit
- Shub to follow up on why the two student government representatives on IAAC are not attending.
4. Shub gave the FAR report.
His major recent activities included
- He attended the first ever woman's soccer RMAC playoff game in Durango and while there was able to also prepare for Fort Lewis College to host the NCAA playoffs.
- He attended the FAR Association meeting in St. Louis. A total of 225 FARs attended. The plenary sessions were, again, focused on Division I issues. Specific to Division II were several brainstorming sessions. FARs reported success with having faculty mentors for each team. Also participation in the FAR fellows institute and serving on NCAA committees were cited as ways to improve ones contribution. FARs were encouraged to have their schools and student athletes participate in the Division II Leadership Academy. The group also spent a lot of time discussing the NCAA legislation and Shub believes his input from those discussions were valuable in shaping the institutional position. Shub also was asked to talk to Division III FARs about the post graduate scholarship program because he chairs the Region VII selection committee for that program.
- He attended the NCAA championships as a member of the Soccer Committee (quarterfinals in Durango and final four in Tampa)
He was one of 10 FARs who partook in the RMAC FARs conference call. FAR attendance at FARA was down this year. Only two of the FARs will be going to convention. The group discussed the role of the FAR. We believe we could be more effective if we had an executive committee to act on our behalf and to attend the AD and Presidents meetings. We discussed game environment and announcer neutrality. Both teams should be introduced, both teams' subs should be announced, and both teams' scoring should be announced. The conference will be providing degree completion awards again for next year. Every past awardee has graduated.
5. Jason Shaver gave the SAAC (Student Athlete Advisory Committee) report.
- The teams are sending valentine cards to hospitalized children. Owing to H1N1, the hospital is not allowing a group of students to visit.
- The February 19 basketball games against Colorado School of Mines will include a fund raiser for the Make A Wish Foundation.
- A read Dr. Seuss at elementary schools is being scheduled
- Owing to weather issues in the past, SAAC has decided to reorganize the awards presentations, the CUSPYS and the Picnic. Participation awards will now be presented as part of the CUSPY ceremony, and the picnic will include only the food and games. The dates are:Picnic: Sunday, April 25 after the Regis game, CUSPY: Wednesday, April 28
6. New Business
- Jen Fisher reminded everyone that scholarship applications are due March 1. She noted 3 of the 12 presidential scholarships are targeted for student athletes. She also noted the Badger Scholarship, the Gielinski Scholarship, and the Stoehr scholarship.
- Shub noted that there had been a question on whether student athletes who are NCAA eligible but not campus eligible are prohibited from practicing. He will follow up and have a recommendation at the next meeting.
- Shub noted that the May meeting conflicts with a final exam he has to proctor. Possible changes to the May meeting schedule will be on the agenda next month.
7. At 11:55, the meeting was adjourned.
