By David Gordon, associate editor
UW-Eau Claire chancellor James Schmidt has been appointed to the NCAA Division III Presidents Council and will begin his term in January.
The appointment was one of four approved by the Council, according to a Nov. 1 posting on the DIII website. The Division III membership is made of schools that do not offer athletic scholarships.
The Presidents Council is the top leadership group in Division III athletics, according to the website. It is composed of 18 presidents and chancellors and establishes and directs the general D-III policies.
“I am honored to have been elected to serve on the NCAA Division III Presidents Council,” Schmidt said in an email. “Division III truly focuses on the quality of the educational experience of the athlete. At UW-Eau Claire student athletes are retained and graduate at higher rates than the student body as a whole.”
Schmidt currently serves on both the Financial Aid Committee and the Presidents Advisory Council for the NCAA as a whole. He has just finished a two-year term as chair of the Council of Chancellors of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC), the league in which UW-EC teams compete.
“I have been impressed with the level of commitment and professionalism of NCAA committees and staff,” Schmidt said. “I look forward to working with Division III colleagues from across the country in thoughtfully addressing issues affecting our athletes and institutions.”
In Division III, the Presidents Council receives and acts on recommendations from the Management Council. That group is charged with reviewing proposals from the various D-III committees and deciding whether to send them on to the Presidents Council.
The specific duties of the Presidents Council include establishing a strategic plan for Division III and implementing policies adopted by the NCAA Board of Governors. It also approves both the Division III budget and its championship regulations and has the authority to adopt some administrative bylaws and regulations without seeking approval from the D-III membership.
The Presidents Council also has the power to sponsor legislative proposals that come before the Division III membership at the annual NCAA convention.
Other new appointees to the Presidents Council were Richanne Mankey, Defiance president; Frank Sanchez, Rhode Island College president; and Davie Jane Gilmour, Penn College president.
Division III is composed of some 450 schools and is home to about 194,000 student-athletes who have the opportunity to compete in 28 national championships, according to the D-III website.
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