UVSC to begin year study of its athletic programs

OREM — Utah Valley State College President William Sederburg announced recently that UVSC will begin a yearlong, campus-wide effort to study its athletics program as part of the NCAA Division I athletics certification program.

Specific areas the study will cover are academic integrity, governance and commitment to rules compliance, as well as a commitment to equity and student-athlete welfare.

While academic accreditation is common in colleges and universities, this program focuses solely on certification of athletics programs.

UVSC began its quest for Division I status in 2002-03, an exploratory year before the transition to NCAA Division I competition. Beginning with the 2003-04 school year, UVSC athletics began competing against NCAA programs. Currently, UVSC athletics is in its fourth year of a six-year process into becoming a full-fledged member of NCAA Divsion I athletics.

The certification program's purpose is to help ensure integrity in the institution's athletics operations. It opens up athletics to the rest of the college community and to the public. Institutions will benefit by increasing campus-wide awareness and knowledge of the athletics program, confirming its strengths and developing plans to improve areas of concern.

The committee responsible for the study will include Sederburg, Scott C. Hammond, assistant academic vice president, and various members of the college faculty and staff, as well as athletics department personnel. "We will begin the process with a four-hour video conference with the NCAA on Nov. 1," Hammond said. He added that within each area to be studied by the committee, the program has standards adopted by the association to place a "measuring stick" by which all Division I members are evaluated.

Once UVSC has concluded its study, an external team of reviewers will conduct at least a two-day evaluation visit of the campus. Those reviewers will be peers from other colleges, universities or conference offices. That team will report to the NCAA Division I Committee on Athletics Certification, another independent group. The committee will then determine the institution's certification status and announce the decision publicly.

For institutions that fail to conduct a comprehensive self-study or to correct problems, tough sanctions can be imposed.