NCAA President Myles Brand will propose a re-centering of intercollegiate athletics in a Dec. 3 address at Ball State University.

Brand will speak on "Achieving Fiscal Responsibility: Aligning Athletics with the Mission of Higher Education" at 1:30 p.m. in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center Cardinal Hall. The presentation is free and open to the public.

The former Indiana University president is expected to call for intercollegiate athletics to more carefully align with the mission and goals of higher education. A Ball State panel will respond to Brand's remarks, followed by audience questions. Panelists will be Bubba Cunningham, athletic director; Jim Ruebel, Honors College dean and faculty representative to the NCAA; and Gregory Roskopf, graduate student in student affairs administration in higher education.

Brand assumed his duties as the NCAA's fourth president on Jan. 1, 2003. He was president of Indiana University from 1994 through 2002 and president of the University of Oregon from 1989–1994. During his presidency at Indiana University, Brand spoke to the National Press Club, noting the disconnection between intercollegiate athletics and education "jeopardizes the essential mission of our universities."

Brand's address is the 10th annual Jack Beyerl Lecture, sponsored by Ball State's division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, featuring a distinguished speaker in the field of student development or higher education. Beyerl served as Ball State's vice president for student affairs from 1964 until his retirement in 1988.

(Note to Editors: For more information on this story, contact Cynthia Ervin at cervin@bsu.edu or (765) 285-3734.)