2013 NCAA Convention

NCAA Educational Session: Academics as First Expectation

In 2003, the academic reform movement in intercollegiate athletics truly took hold with passage of legislation requiring Division I institutions to submit academic progress information that would become the basis for the Academic Progress Rate. In the 10 years since that passage, the academic reform movement has transformed the nature of conversations held on campus, shifted a national focus toward the academic progress of student-athletes and, most importantly, positively impacted thousands of young men and women. This session will provide: (1) a retrospective on the changes made during the last 10 years; (2) a detailed review of the real impacts these changes have had; and (3) a discussion of what to expect in the area of academic reform during the next several years.

Speakers:

Jean Boyd, Senior Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Development, Arizona State University

Now in his 18th year of contributing to college athletics, Jean Boyd leads the efforts to graduate and develop critical life skills among Arizona State’s 525 student-athletes.  He serves on the Sun Devil athletics senior management team, and leads diversity and inclusion efforts.  Boyd is also currently on the National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletes (N4A) board of directors and the chair of N4A Region 5.  This past summer, he was recognized as the winner of the Lan Hewelett Award, given by N4A to the best professional in the field of academics for student-athletes.

Boyd’s life passion is empowering young people through education and sport and maximizing their human potential.  To this end, he has co-founded the Scholar Baller^® non-profit organization, which promotes academic and life achievement through motivational academic incentives and educational initiatives.

Boyd has been a Sun Devil since January 1991, when he joined the Arizona State football program as a transfer from Cerritos College.  After playing three years for the Sun Devils and graduating from Arizona State 1994 with a degree in history, Boyd chased his dream of playing professional football.  After participating in a training camp with the New England Patriots and the London Monarchs (NFL Europe), Boyd joined the Arizona State athletics department as a management intern in July 1995.

Having been employed by Arizona State since 1995, Boyd has worked as coordinator and then manager for life skills, manager for football academics, and assistant, now associate, athletics director for student-athlete development.  He earned his master’s degree in higher education administration from the Arizona State School of Education in 1998.  Boyd has two beautiful children, Nadia and Jean III.

Walter Harrison, President, University of Hartford

Since Walter Harrison’s appointment as the University of Hartford’s fifth president in 1998, the university has experienced a period of energy and momentum unmatched in its history.  He has overseen dramatic improvements in academic quality, finances and fundraising.

Harrison serves on many boards in the Hartford area, including Hartford Stage, Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, The Connecticut Science Center, Achieve Hartford!, World Business Capital, and The Hartford Consortium for Higher Education, and he is the treasurer of The MetroHartford Alliance.  Also active on a national level, he chairs the NCAA Committee on Academic Performance and serves on other NCAA committees, and is a member of the Hillel Foundation Board of Directors and the President’s Council of the Association of Governing Boards.

Harrison is a scholar of American literature and culture.  A native of Pittsburgh, he graduated from Trinity College (Connecticut) in 1968, and then earned a master’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1969.  After an interim of three years to serve as captain in the U.S. Air Force, Harrison earned a doctorate from the University of California, Davis.  His doctoral dissertation, “Out of Play: Baseball Fiction from Pulp to Art,” was one of the earliest scholarly treatments of baseball and its place in American life.

Todd Petr, Managing Director of Research, NCAA

Todd A. Petr has been a member of the NCAA research staff since 1987.  He was named director in 1998, and managing director in 2003.  In his current role, Petr oversees the conduct of all research conducted by the organization.  During his tenure with the Association, Petr has participated in research efforts that have fundamentally changed the way the organization has accounted for academic success and regulated academic performance.  Additionally, he has been instrumental in developing comprehensive studies related to student-athlete welfare issues, athletics finances and diversity issues.  Petr received his Master of Business Administration from the University of Kansas, and a B.A. in psychology from Washington University in St. Louis.