The University of Delaware Department of Athletics is conducting a self-study of its program, which is part of the process for periodic recertification by the NCAA.

The self-study covers such areas as academic and fiscal integrity, governance and rules compliance, as well as institutional commitment to equity, student-athlete welfare and sportsmanship.

A web site on the self-study is now available at [www.udel.edu/NCAAselfstudy/].

UD completed its first athletics self-study in 1996. In 1997, Division I membership voted to change the frequency of such certification from once every five years to once every 10 years and to require a five-year interim-status report.

The certification program's purpose is to help ensure integrity in the institution's athletics operations. Institutions benefit from the process by increasing campus-wide awareness and knowledge of the athletics program, confirming its strengths and developing plans to improve areas of concern.

Bobby Gempesaw, vice provost, and Michael Ginzberg, dean of the Lerner College of Business and Economics, chair the self-study committee, whose members include UD faculty and staff, students and athletics department personnel.

Within each area studied by the committee, the program has standards, called operating principles, which were adopted by the NCAA to put in place a "measuring stick" by which all Division I members are evaluated.

An external team of reviewers will conduct a four-day site visit on campus this fall. Those reviewers will be peers from other colleges and universities.

That team will report to the NCAA Division I Committee on Athletics Certification, another independent group. The committee will then determine and announce the institution's certification status.

Three options of certification status are possible: certified, certified with conditions and not certified. While institutions will have an opportunity to correct deficient areas, those institutions that do not take corrective actions may be ruled ineligible for NCAA championships.

The NCAA is a membership organization of colleges and universities that participate in intercollegiate athletics. The primary purpose of the association is to maintain intercollegiate athletics as an integral part of the educational program and the athlete as an integral part of the student body.

Activities of the NCAA membership include formulating rules of play for NCAA sports, conducting national championships, adopting and enforcing standards of eligibility and studying all phases of intercollegiate athletics.