MINUTES OF THE
NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION
WALTER BYERS SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE
Hilton Key West April 27-28, 2003
Key West, Florida
Participants:
Beth Chapman, Southland Conference, chair
Richard Gropper, University of North Florida
Karen Johnson, Alfred University
Robert Thomas, University of Missouri, Kansas City
Corey Bray, NCAA, recording secretary
Robert Frank, Oregon State University, was not able to attend the meeting.
[Note: These minutes contain only actions taken (formal votes or stated “sense of the meeting”) in accordance with the NCAA policy regarding minutes of all Association entities. While certain items on the committee’s agenda were acted on at various times throughout the meeting, all final actions within a given topic are combined in these minutes for convenience of reference.]
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. by the chair, Ms. Chapman. Those in attendance introduced themselves after which Ms. Chapman and Mr. Bray reviewed the agenda for the meeting.
1. Interview Order and Times. At the conclusion of dinner, the committee held a drawing to determine if the male or the female candidates would interview first, after which the candidates drew for their interview times.
[Note: The meeting recessed at 9:30 p.m.]
Monday,
April 28
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 a.m. by the chair, Ms. Chapman. Mr. Bray and Ms. Chapman reviewed the interview structure and the order in which the committee would interview the candidates.
2. Approval of Previous Minutes.
It was VOTED
“That the minutes from the March 14, 2003, telephone conference be approved as submitted.”
3. Interview Questions. Mr. Bray reviewed the committee member interview question topic area assignments. The topic areas were athletics, academics, community service, future vision, and distinguishing characteristic(s) that helped to overcome an obstacle. Ms. Chapman then determined the order the questions were to be asked of each finalist.
4. Interview of Scholarship Finalists. The committee interviewed the six finalists for the Walter Byers Scholarship. The order for the interviews was as follows:
a. McLain Schneider, University of North Dakota;
b. Matthew Emmons, University of Alaska Fairbanks;
c. David Lofthus, Johns Hopkins University;
d. Poppy Major, University of California, Davis;
e. Britt Themann, Tulane University; and
f. Natalie Halbach, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
5. Selection of Byers Scholars. After the interviews and deliberations, the committee selected Mr. Schneider and Ms. Halbach to be the 2003 Walter Byers Scholarship recipients. The first alternate for the men is Mr. Lofthus, and the first alternate for the women is Ms. Major. The committee noted the difficulty of the decisions and congratulated all of the finalists on their outstanding achievements during their collegiate careers.
6. Future Meetings. The committee determined that the following cities would be considered as locations for the 2004 meeting;
a. San Francisco;
b. San Antonio;
c. New York; and
d. San Diego.
7. Other Business. The committee directed Mr. Bray to remove the social security number line from the 2004 application.
8. Adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 1 p.m.
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