NCAA Research Staff

Mission:  To provide broad, far-reaching, high-quality information to the membership, primarily, but also to the media and other interested parties.

The goals of the NCAA research staff are:

• To generate and maintain databases on characteristics of student-athletes at member institutions particularly with regard to academic performance, financial support and graduation.                                                       
• To observe activities, to measure attitudes and beliefs, and to interpret their foundations as they relate to the conduct and administration of intercollegiate athletics.                                                       
• To study the impact of NCAA legislation and other sports program policies.                                                       
• To encourage the use of NCAA data for enhancing National Office, member institution and public understanding of intercollegiate athletics.                                                       
• To encourage the use of NCAA data by committees in the governance structure during the decision-making process.                                                       
• To coordinate and maintain the NCAA library and archival collections while promoting the library as a useful resource of information for the staff and the membership.

The research staff is responsible for collecting data, analyzing data and publishing reports in the following areas:

• Student-Athlete Academic Performance
  
• Ethnicity and Gender Demographics of NCAA Member Institutions' Athletics Department Personnel                       
• Race and Gender Demographics of NCAA Member Conferences' Personnel
  
• Graduation-Rates
  
• Substance Use Habits of Student-Athletes (PDF*)
  
• Revenues and Expenses of Intercollegiate Athletics Programs
  
• Gender-Equity
  
• Participation Rates                                  
• Summary of NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Data Related to the Decline in Sponsorship of Olympic Sports                                 
• NCAA Facts 
• Student-Athlete Ethnicity Report              
• Student-Athlete Injuries                                
• NCAA National Study on Collegiate Sports Wagering and Associated Behaviors                
• Student Athlete Race and Ethnicity Report

The research staff is also responsible for administering the following scholarship programs:

Division I Degree Completion Award Program 

The NCAA established this program to assist student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility for institutional financial aid (in five years).  Applicants must have completed eligibility for athletics-related aid at a Division I member institution before applying and must be within 30 semester hours of their bachelor's degree requirements. 

The program is administered by the NCAA Degree Completion Award Consultants.  The application for Fall/Spring 2005-06 will be available on the NCAA Web site in March and will be due by May 6, 2005.

Please contact Karen Cooper at kcooper@ncaa.org for further information.

Walter Byers Scholarship Program 

In 1988, the NCAA established the Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship Program as a means of recognizing the contributions of the former executive director through encouraging excellence in academic performance by student-athletes. Through this program, one male and one female student-athlete annually will be awarded a postgraduate scholarship in recognition of outstanding academic achievement and potential for success in postgraduate study in his or her planned career. It is intended that an individual named a Byers Scholar will be recognized as one who has combined the best elements of mind and body to achieve national distinction for his or her achievements, and promises to be a future leader in his or her chosen field of career service.   For more detailed information, click here.

• If you have questions that can not be answered by the information on the Walter Byers Scholarship Program Web page, contact Ann Kearns at akearns@ncaa.org.

Staff contacts for research initiatives:

Academic Performance Census form completion-mdejulio@ncaa.org	Initial Eligibility Clearinghouse Reports-ehartung@ncaa.org
Basic Academic Skills Study (BASS)- ehartung@ncaa.org	NCAA history- esummers@ncaa.org
Championships history requests-  esummers@ncaa.org	NCAA Library and Archives- esummers@ncaa.org
Degree Completion Award (Division I)- kcooper@ncaa.org	Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Report-ddehass@ncaa.org
Drug Use and Abuse Study- nmbracken@ncaa.org	Race Demographics Report (athletics department personnel)- ddehass@ncaa.org
Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act- mdejulio@ncaa.org	Research grants- nmbracken@ncaa.org
Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act form corrections-rschmalz@ncaa.org	Revenues and Expenses Report- ddehass@ncaa.org
Gender Equity Report- ddehass@ncaa.org	Student-Athlete Academic Performance Research-ehartung@ncaa.org
General research questions- kcooper@ncaa.org	Student-Athlete Ethnicity Report- ddehass@ncaa.org
Graduation Rates Report- mdejulio@ncaa.org	Walter Byers Scholarship- akearns@ncaa.org
Injury Surveillance System rdick@ncaa.org

The NCAA Research Staff:

Todd Petr, Managing Director of Research  Tom Paskus, Principal Research Scientist Randy Dick, Associate Director of Research Eric Hartung, Associate Director of Research Ann Kearns, Associate Director of Research Ellen Summers, Librarian Nicole Bracken, Assistant Director of Research Jill Corlette, Assistant Director of Research Gregg Summers, Assistant Director of Research Roberto Vicente, Assistant Director of Research

Lisa Greer Douglass, Research Analyst Genny Hester, Research Data Specialist Denise DeHass, Research Contractor Maria DeJulio, Research Contractor Karen Cooper, Administrative Assistant Levida Edwards, Survey Research Assistant Clint Newlin, Administrative Assistant Betty Reagan, Administrative Assistant

The contact for this page is cnewlin@ncaa.org

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