WASHINGTON, D.C. — Denison University President Dale Knobel will be a featured panelist for an educational session during the 2009 NCAA Convention at the Gaylord National Convention Center in Washington, D.C., taking place Jan. 14-17. Knobel will participate in “Academics, Athletics and Today’s Sports Culture, Expectations and Realities” on Thursday, Jan. 15, from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. His remarks will address the role of athletics in enhancing the overall educational experience at NCAA Division III (non-scholarship) institutions.

Also participating in the panel discussion are New York Times writer Bill Pennington, who penned a series last year about a gap between the reality and perceptions of receiving a college athletic scholarship; Nan Carney-DeBord, head women’s basketball coach at Ohio Wesleyan University and Denison University graduate from the class of 1980; Michael Hendricks, vice president for enrollment at Catholic University of America; Charlie Titus, vice chancellor for athletics and recreation, special programs and projects at University of Massachusetts-Boston; and University of Puget Sound student-athlete Kavin Williams.

The session will be moderated by Richard Ekman, president of the Council of Independent Colleges.

President Knobel is currently serving as president of the North Coast Athletic Conference, and this year marks the NCAC’s 25th anniversary, a milestone that will be celebrated during the convention. The conference consists of 10 academically selective colleges and universities in Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania: Denison University, Allegheny College, Earlham College, Hiram College, Kenyon College, Oberlin College, Ohio Wesleyan University, Wabash College, Wittenberg University and the College of Wooster. A leader in higher education, the NCAC was the first collegiate athletic conference to have as its founding principles a commitment to gender equity and broad-based athletic programs in an environment dedicated to academic excellence.

For nearly a century, the NCAA Convention has been an annual meeting place for representatives of all of its member institutions. Colleges and universities in association’s Division III, of which Denison is a member, place the highest priority on the overall quality of the educational experience and on the successful completion of all students’ academic programs. They seek to establish and maintain an environment in which a student-athlete’s athletics activities are conducted as an integral part of the student-athlete’s educational experience. They also seek to establish and maintain an environment that values cultural diversity and gender equity among their student-athletes and athletics staff.

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