Fellow CoSIDA Members:
Let me give you a quick report on CoSIDA’s meetings at last week’s NCAA Convention in sunny San Diego.
Joining me to represent our organization and your interests were officers Eric McDowell (Union, N.Y.), Judy Willson (Mountain West Conference) and Jeff Hodges (North Alabama), divisional presidents Greg Goings (Bowie State; D2) and Jay Stancil (Union, Ky.; NAIA). Also attending were Blake Timm (Pacific, Ore.), Chair of the CoSIDA College Division Management Advisory Committee and Ann King (The Sage Colleges) both from Division 3, along with CoSIDA staff members Doug Vance, Barb Kowal and Will Roleson.
While we were able to conduct a significant amount of mid-year business, the unique opportunity of meeting at the NCAA Convention is the chance to visit face-to-face with a number of our partners in intercollegiate athletics. That’s why our volunteer delegates adjust office and campus duties to try to attend.
For the first time, we had a personal meeting with NCAA president Mark Emmert (pictured, right, meeting with CoSIDA), who made it clear from the start that he recognizes communications as the leading branding tool for the NCAA and each of its member institutions. We talked about ways to use the NCAA’s organization to communicate our messages collaboratively, and to amplify positive stories from each campus to the national level. It was a great first meeting with a very busy gentleman who made it obvious he recognizes the importance of what we do.
Erik Christianson, NCAA managing director of external affairs and a long-time friend of CoSIDA, continued that discussion, and will talk with CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) to offer a public relations collaboration among our groups. He highlighted changes to NCAA.org, and talked about the organization’s social media strategy among the efforts to boost membership engagement. All these topics will receive attention in our convention programming this summer.
We had great conversations with vice-president Dan Dutcher and director Louise McCleary from the NCAA’s Division III about their recently launched Strategic Communications Guide, and the inaugural Divisional Day at this year’s CoSIDA Convention. With Division II vice-president Terri Steeb-Gronau, we looked at the culmination of the 40th anniversary celebration in that division, and talked about revisiting the D2 model office survey done several years ago and how it fits with the Division II's "Work-Life Balance" initiative.
NAIA President Jim Carr and senior vice-president Lori Thomas met with us about their plans for Divisional Day, and how a white paper by NAIA communications professionals will be shared with their entire membership in April.
We sent delegations to the AD meetings of the Big East, Great Northwest and Liberty League meetings to re-introduce CoSIDA to those groups, and local CoSIDA members from Point Loma and UC San Diego joined us for a reception with Dick Enberg (pictured, right) and Capital One Academic All-America® Hall of Famers Tracy Warren and Dylann Duncan Ceriani.
Blake Timm was a featured panelist in a standing-room only social media strategies educational session on Thursday, just two hours after he finished in the top 10 of that morning’s 5K run! Judy Willson and Jay Stancil also finished the 5K (right).
Our delegates attended meetings of the divisional SAAC groups and NACWAA as well, and we had a productive discussion with our affiliates from the NACDA office about logistics for this summer’s convention, now less than five months away. 
I was excited to see our Auburn team physician Dr. James Andrews receive the NCAA’s Gerald R. Ford Award at the opening business session, and he quoted his wife Jenelle as often saying, “If you’re still talking about what you did yesterday, you’re not doing much today.”
What a great reminder for CoSIDA! Despite more than five decades of tremendous heritage, now is the most exciting time ever in communications. I encourage each of you to get involved and communicate to your CoSIDA leaders how you want the organization to grow and serve you in making your professional life better.
Thanks very much for entrusting us with the work of our organization in San Diego and we look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Shelly Poe
Auburn University
2013-14 CoSIDA President
slp0019@auburn.edu
