Contact: Carl Nathe

The certification program’s purpose is to help ensure integrity in the institution’s athletics operations. The process opens athletics to the rest of the university community and to the public. Institutions benefit by increasing campuswide awareness and knowledge of the athletics program, confirming its strengths, and developing plans to improve areas of concern.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 11, 2003) -- University of Kentucky President Lee T. Todd Jr. has announced that UK will begin a yearlong, campuswide self-study of its athletics program as part of the National Collegiate Athletics Association Division I certification program. The self-study will cover specific areas, including academic and fiscal integrity, governance, and rules compliance, as well as a commitment to equity, student-athlete welfare, and sporting conduct.

While academic accreditation is common in colleges and universities, this program focuses solely on certification of athletics programs. Following a pilot project, the NCAA Division I membership overwhelmingly supported the program and its standards at the 1993 NCAA Convention. UK completed its first certification self-study in 1997. At the 1997 convention, the Division I membership voted to change the frequency of certification of athletics programs from once every five years to once every 10 years and to require a five-year interim status report. Therefore, the current self-study will be the second in the certification process for UK.

The certification program’s purpose is to help ensure integrity in the institution’s athletics operations. The process opens athletics to the rest of the university community and to the public. Institutions benefit by increasing campuswide awareness and knowledge of the athletics program, confirming its strengths, and developing plans to improve areas of concern.

“This NCAA self-study process gives us the opportunity to get a thorough read on just how our athletics program is performing, and not just in terms of wins and losses,” said Todd. Todd has appointed Connie Ray, UK vice president for Institutional Research, Planning and Effectiveness, to chair the university’s NCAA Self-study Steering Committee.

The steering committee’s four subcommittees and their chairs are: C. Darrell Jennings, chair of the Academic Integrity Subcommittee and associate dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Medicine (recommended by the University Senate); Lionel Williamson, chair of the Equity, Welfare and Sporting Conduct Subcommittee and assistant dean for Diversity and professor in the College of Agriculture (recommended by the Provost); Mary Marchant, chair of the Fiscal Integrity Subcommittee and professor in the College of Agriculture (recommended by the Provost; member of President’s Commission on Women); and Ken Roberts, chair of the Governance and Commitment to Rules Compliance Subcommittee and dean of the College of Pharmacy (recommended by the University Senate).

A member of the NCAA membership services staff will travel to campus for a one-day orientation in January. This session will coincide with the early stages of the process as UK’s NCAA Self-study Steering Committee and various subcommittees begin to hold regular meetings. The entire self-study will take one year, with a final report issued in the spring of 2005. A Web site containing updated information, along with dates, times and locations of committee meetings, is accessible.