Spanier Named To NCAA Board Of Directors

12-20-96

University Park, Pa. -- Penn State President Graham B. Spanier has been appointed by the presidents of Big Ten universities to serve on the NCAA's Board of Directors.

Spanier will be among 15 university presidents nationwide who will constitute the board, which beginning in August becomes the body that oversees the policies and operations of the NCAA Division I schools under a restructuring plan that was approved by the membership this year.

Spanier also will join the NCAA Presidents Commission in January, which will exist only for the few months until the new governance body is launched. Spanier's term on the Presidents Commission will run through January 2000.

The board is scheduled to meet Jan. 12, 1997, in conjunction with the Presidents Commission, at the NCAA convention in Nashville, Tenn.

Spanier served on the Presidents Commission in 1995 as the Big 8 representative. "I enjoy working on the issues facing intercollegiate athletics nationally," he said.

"Athletics is an integral part of the educational experience here at Penn State, and the NCAA does a reasonable job of helping us maintain the proper balance between athletic and academic activities," Spanier added. "Nevertheless, I anticipate that under this new governance model, the board will look carefully at the structure, budget, and policies of the NCAA. Some changes are likely."

Spanier has been involved in several initiatives to restructure athletics nationally. He served on the committee that established the Big 12 conference and was on the Big Ten committee to restructure the Rose Bowl and the National Football Alliance. He serves on the national advisory board of the Center for the Study of Sport in Society.

The NCAA -- the National Collegiate Athletic Association -- is a membership organization of universities and colleges that participate in intercollegiate athletics. The primary purpose of the NCAA is to maintain intercollegiate athletics as an integral part of the student body. Activities of the NCAA membership include formulating rules of play for NCAA sports, conducting national championships, adopting and enforcing standards of eligibility and studying all phases of intercollegiate athletics.

Penn State is part of NCAA's Division I-A.

"We are very proud of our athletes, who excel in the classrooms as well as on the playing fields," Spanier said. "This year, Penn State student-athletes posted their best academic performance on record, scoring significantly higher in graduation rates than the national average for other colleges and universities in the NCAA."

Student-athletes in Penn State's entering freshman class of 1989-90 had a graduation rate of 83 percent, compared to the 58 percent average for NCAA institutions nationally, according to an NCAA survey released in June.

The survey also revealed that this year, Penn State topped its own previous best record in graduation rates. The 83 percent rate is the highest for Penn State athletes since the NCAA first compiled and published such reports in 1992. Penn State's previous high was 78 percent for the entering classes of 1986-87 and 1987-88.

The survey also found that student-athletes at the University Park campus outperformed other Penn State undergraduates by four percentage points. According to the survey, 79 percent was the average six-year graduation rate for all Penn State students in the class of 1989-90.

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Editors: For more information, contact Julie Quickel or Chris Gates, NCAA, 913/339-1906.

Contacts:
Alan Janesch (814) 865-7517 (office) axj12@psu.edu
Christy Rambeau (814) 865-7517 (office) cmr7@psu.edu