Students Filmmakers Compete to be Named Country’s Funniest College Student & Have their Film Featured in a Microsoft “Share Your Stuff” Promotion
Online Voting and Expert Judging Determines Winner

San Francisco, CA (October 8, 2009) – Rooftop Comedy
(www.RooftopComedy.com), the leading interactive media producer of original comedy content and comedic branded entertainment is accepting submissions for the 3rd annual Rooftop Comedy National College Comedy Competition: Funny Filmmaker Contest and the Microsoft “Share Your Stuff” competition until to October 19th, 2009.

• The 3rd Annual National College Comedy Competition: Funny Film is an effort to identify the nation’s most original and compelling student funny filmmaker. Entries must be five minutes long and submitted at www.RooftopComedy.com/college. Five rounds of expert judging and online voting will narrow the field to the final four contestants who will have their films screened at the 2010 Aspen Rooftop Comedy
Festival where a combination of live and online voting will determine the winner.

• The Microsoft “Share Your Stuff” Competition challenges college filmmakers from across the U.S. to create a funny film that illustrates just how easy it is to manage and share documents with the Microsoft Office Live Workspace. Entries must be no more than 2 minutes long and submitted at www.rooftopcomedy.com/college/shareyourstuff. Along with the chance at having their video used in a new promotional campaign for Microsoft Office Live Workspace, the winner will receive $1,000 cash and have their film screened at the preeminent 2010 Aspen Rooftop Comedy
Festival.

“We are thrilled to be hosting 2 amazing funny film competitions that present such tremendous opportunities for student filmmakers,” said Will C. Rogers, CEO and founder of Rooftop Comedy. “Both of these competitions allow us to fulfill the Rooftop Comedy mission of supporting up-and-coming comedy talent and introducing them to new fans all over the world.”

Both competitions are open to students from every College and University in the United States and scoring will be based on quality of production, originality and comedic wit.

About Rooftop Media, Inc.:
Rooftop Media, Inc. the parent company of Rooftop Comedy, Rooftop Comedy Productions, The Aspen Rooftop Comedy Festival and the RooftopComedy.com National College Comedy Competition, is the largest producer of interactive comedy programming and original comedy productions.

Rooftop Media records live comedy performances 365 nights a year from its network of comedy clubs throughout North America, Europe and Australia, distributing original comedy programming to mobile, web, broadcast, and print outlets that include Current TV, Apple iTunes, Yahoo!, Nokia, Hulu, FastCompany Magazine, YouTube, and TiVO. Working with more than 3,500 professional comedians, Rooftop Media maintains a growing video library of tens of thousands of hours of original comedy content. Rooftop Media produces a range of local and national events highlighting its talent discoveries.

# # #
Media Contact:
Loren Pomerantz
212-583-0338 / 917-902-0219
loren@combined-forces.com

Users can share interactive information on HPV anonymously

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A new Facebook application has been launched to help educate, motivate and mobilize people to prevent the spread of Humanpapilloma Virus (HPV). “Fact Check: HPV” (www.hpvfactcheck.org) allows users to take an interactive, educational quiz about HPV, find additional resources, and commit to take action, while even allowing concerned friends to anonymously share the application with peers.

The application was developed by Partnership for Prevention and the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies with input from the School of Public Health. The project was funded by the Fund to Prevent Cervical Cancer.

“Use of social networking sites has skyrocketed in the last few years, becoming an excellent channel to promote healthy behaviors,” said Robert J. Gould PhD, president of Partnership for Prevention. “Fact Check: HPV will harness the power of social media to increase awareness of this common sexually transmitted disease (STD).”

Use of social networking sites has quadrupled over the last four years from 8 percent in 2005 to over 35 percent in 2008. Over 75% of young adults, age 18-24, have a profile page, the vast majority of whom check it at least weekly.

“Young adults trust information recommended by friends, however, friends are often reticent to share information about stigmatized illnesses such as STDs, mental illnesses, or substance abuse. This project tests a novel strategy that spreads sensitive information through friendship networks, while still retaining anonymity.” said Derek L. Hansen, PhD, Assistant Professor at University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies. “It also helps us learn how the application spreads through the network and identify misperceptions about HPV based on quiz results.”

A recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that one in four adolescent girls between the ages of 14-19, or 3.2 million teen girls, is infected with at least one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases — (HPV, Chlamydia, Herpes, and Trichomoniasis). This study sheds new light on a chronic problem among adolescents in the United States — one that often receives little attention, in part, due to the sensitive nature of the topic.

STDs can result in serious health consequences when left untreated, including cervical cancer and infertility, and cost the U.S. health care system millions of dollars in medical expenses.

Partnership for Prevention is a membership organization of business, nonprofit and government leaders working to make evidence-based disease prevention and health promotion a national priority. More information is available at www.prevent.org.

CONTACT:  Damon Thompson of Partnership for Prevention, +1-202-833-2009, dthompson@prevent.org

From lobster bakes at Bowdoin to “spa” water at Stanford, The Daily Beast uncovers the best in university eating.

NEW YORK, Oct. 9 /PRNewswire/ –Live now on The Daily Beast- Kathleen Kingsbury On the Best College Food: www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-07/the-best-college-food/?cid=topic:featured1#

The Daily Beast recognizes 15 of the country’s award-winning college dining services at:

• Oregon State University
• Virginia Tech
• St. Olaf College
• University of Massachusetts at Amherst
• Bowdoin College
• Washington University in St. Louis
• Grinnell College
• Mills College
• Stanford University
• Boston College
• Colorado College
• Wheaton College
• The College of William and Mary
• University of California- Berkeley
• Illinois Institute of Technology

On developments in campus dining Kathleen Kingsbury writes: “Here’s just a taste of what college students across the country are having for dinner tonight: fresh-caught lobster, Brazilian churrascaria, summer squash apple bisque, and for dessert, handmade Belgian chocolates.

Once upon a time, colleges served boiled veggies and mystery meat, assembly-line style. Then, in the ’90s, campus food courts began upgrading to brand-name fast food and fancy salad bars. But to impress today’s prospective students, who were weaned on organic produce, Michael Pollan, and the Food Network, schools are rolling out dining options fit for a visiting head of state.”

For more stories by Kathleen Kingsbury, visit: www.thedailybeast.com/author/kathleen-kingsbury

The Daily Beast is a website dedicated to news and commentary, culture and entertainment. Created by Tina Brown and IAC, The Daily Beast curates the web’s best content and offers fresh works from its own talented roster of contributors. The Daily Beast aims to cover the news with poly-partisan viewpoints (left, right, and all persuasions in between), providing a wide ranging mix of content, arresting headlines, intelligently and entertainingly curated video, and iconic imagery and photography. The Daily Beast is an operating business of IAC (Nasdaq: IACI). For more information, visit www.thedailybeast.com

CONTACT:  Chelsie Gosk of The Daily Beast, chelsie.gosk@thedailybeast.com, +1-212-524-8854

Live Now: www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-04/americas-smartest-cities—from-first-to-worst/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsC4

NEW YORK, Oct. 9 /PRNewswire/ — The Daily Beast has released data ranking America’s 55 largest cities, from first-to-worst. In a study examining statistics on both educational performance and intellectual environment, the website revealed that Raleigh-Durham in North Carolina polled on top as the smartest, while residents of Northern California’s Fresno had the lowest accumulative IQ.

The Daily Beast’s research team ranked educational performance based on how many residents had attained bachelor’s degrees and graduate degrees. The intellectual environment half of the study comprised of three parts: reviewing nonfiction book sales, measuring the ratio of institutions of higher education and weighing the link between intelligence and political engagement as measured by the percentage of eligible voters who cast ballots in the last presidential election.

Full methodology: www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-04/americas-smartest-cities—from-first-to-worst/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsC4

Metropolitan areas from smartest to least smart:

Raleigh-Durham, NC    170

SF-Oakland-San Jose, CA    165

Boston, MA    162

Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN    159

Denver, CO    158

Hartford-New Haven, CT    156

Seattle-Tacoma, WA    151

Washington, DC    151

Portland, OR    143

Baltimore, MD    135

Philadelphia, PA    130

Austin, TX    129

New York, NY    128

Salt Lake City, UT    127

Milwaukee, WI    120

Charlotte, NC    119

Columbus, OH    116

Kansas City, KS-MO    116

Nashville, TN    113

San Diego, CA    112

Indianapolis, IN    112

Providence-New Bedford, RI    110

Atlanta, GA    109

Chicago, IL    108

St. Louis, MO    108

Rochester, NY    106

Los Angeles, CA    100

Richmond, VA    100

Pittsburgh, PA    100

Grnd Rpds-Klmzo-Bttle Crk, MI    99

Cleveland, OH    97

WstPlmBch-FrtPerc-VeroBch, FL    97

Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL    87

Tucson, AZ    86

Sacramento-Stockton, CA    84

Oklahoma City, OK    84

Jacksonville, FL    83

Greensbro-WnstnSalm-HiPnt, NC    83

Miami, FL    78

Detroit, MI    77

Nrflk-Prtsmth-NwptNws-Hmp, VA    76

Birmingham, AL    75

Cincinnati, OH    72

Buffalo, NY    70

New Orleans, LA    68

Houston, TX    66

Orlndo-Daytona Bch-Mlbrne, FL    66

Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX    64

Phoenix, AZ    63

Harrsbrg-Yrk-Lncstr-Lbnon, PA    57

Memphis, TN    48

Louisville, KY    47

San Antonio, TX    26

Las Vegas, NV    11

Fresno-Visalia, CA    3

The Daily Beast is a website dedicated to news and commentary, culture and entertainment. Created by Tina Brown and IAC, The Daily Beast curates the web’s best content and offers fresh works from its own talented roster of contributors. The Daily Beast aims to cover the news with poly-partisan viewpoints (left, right, and all persuasions in between), providing a wide ranging mix of content, arresting headlines, intelligently and entertainingly curated video, and iconic imagery and photography. The Daily Beast is an operating business of IAC (Nasdaq: IACI). For more information, visit www.thedailybeast.com.

CONTACT:  Andrew Kirk, +1-212-524-8856, Andrew.kirk@thedailybeast.com

Two bloggers will win a trip to cover the Vancouver Games using Microsoft Office 2010

REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 9 /PRNewswire/ — One female blogger and one student blogger will be sent to the  2010 Olympic Winter Games as winners of an online contest announced today by Microsoft Corp. and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC).  The winning bloggers will use the latest Microsoft technologies to report daily from the Games alongside members of the credentialed press corps. Starting today, qualified bloggers may enter the contest at www.officewintergames.com.

The Microsoft Office team will award the winners a seven-day trip to Vancouver, British Columbia, and the technology and press access needed to report from the Games.  The top-of-the-line technology includes Microsoft Office 2010 Professional and the Acer Aspire 4810 laptop that, thanks to its high performance and more than eight hours of battery life, is the winners’ ideal hardware companion.

“Microsoft Office will give bloggers the reporting, editing and communication tools they’ll require across the PC, mobile phone and browser,” said Janice V. Kapner, senior director of Information Worker Group Communications at Microsoft. “Because blogs and online reporting are an increasingly popular way for sports fans to consume news about their favorite events, Microsoft will equip the two talented bloggers with Microsoft Office 2010 Professional to help them report with ease right from the sidelines.”

Ten contest semifinalists will be chosen by a panel of celebrity judges, including five-time Olympic gold medalist Bonnie Blair and online video stars Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld from CollegeHumor.com. The public will then vote for their favorite semifinalists online, and the winners will be selected based on the number of votes they receive.

“As an Olympic gold medalist, I know the passion and excitement of being behind the scenes at the Winter Games,” Blair said. “We’re excited to give these two bloggers the chance to experience the thrill of this time-honored event as well.”

Microsoft Office is the premier productivity solution across PCs, mobile phones and browsers. From broadcast and video editing in Microsoft Office PowerPoint to co-authoring and the ability to post directly to blogs in Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft is delivering technology to help people work smarter and faster from virtually any location using almost any device. Microsoft Office 2010 will deliver innovative capabilities and provide new levels of flexibility and choice that will help people do the following:

• Work anywhere with Office Web applications — the online companions to Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote — that help provide access to documents from virtually anywhere and that help preserve the look and feel of a document regardless of device
• Collaborate better with co-authoring in Microsoft Word 2010, Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 and Microsoft OneNote 2010, as well as advanced e-mail management and calendaring capabilities in Microsoft Outlook 2010, including the option to “ignore” unwanted e-mail threads
• Bring ideas to life with video and picture editing, broadcast capability in Microsoft PowerPoint 2010, easy document preparation through the new Microsoft Office Backstage view, and new Sparklines in Microsoft Excel 2010 to visualize data and spot trends faster

Contest Eligibility and Rules

Contestants must be at least 18 years of age and have written a blog for at least three months at time of entry. Contestants must be United States residents and either a female blogger or a currently enrolled full-time undergraduate or graduate student in good standing at a U.S. college or university. Winners will be announced at the International CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas Jan. 7–10. Complete contest details can be found at www.officewintergames.com. Microsoft Office 2010 will be available in the first half of 2010; for more information visit www.microsoft.com/office.

About USOC

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) is recognized by the International Olympic Committee as the sole entity in the United States whose mission involves training, entering and underwriting the full expenses for the U.S. teams in the Olympic, Paralympic, Pan American and Parapan American Games. In addition to being the steward of the U.S. Olympic Movement, the USOC is the moving force for support of sports in the United States that are on the program of the Olympic, Paralympic, Pan American and Parapan American Games.  Learn more about the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams and the USOC at www.teamusa.org.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

This information is about pre-release software and therefore is subject to change. It is provided without warranty of any kind, express or implied.

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass on Microsoft’s corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.mspx.

CONTACT:  Rapid Response Team of Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, +1-503-443-7070, rrt@waggeneredstrom.com, for Microsoft Corp.

25% of Researchers Say Accessing Material on a Handheld Device Important

HOUSTON, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ — Questia Media, Inc. has added an additional 1,900 copyrighted books to its digital collection, which is available online and through its recently launched application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that in just two weeks has become one of the top paid book applications on those devices.

The Questia collection, consisting mostly of copyrighted works, now totals 76,213 full-text books and over 2.7 million journal, magazine, and newspaper articles.

“This important addition to our library is part of our continuing strategy to provide college students and other researchers access to the only high-quality, online collection of full-text books and articles,” said Tim Harris, President and CEO of Questia, adding that in addition to accessing these materials online users increasingly want to do so from mobile devices

In a recent survey of over 3,400 Questia subscribers, 25% said that accessing research material from a handheld mobile device was important.

Availability

Questia Library for the iPhone/iPod Touch is available today from the App Store in iTunes for 99 cents, giving users permanent access to 5,000 public domain books and 1 week of access to every publication in Questia Library. After one week, users may purchase additional access to the full library through iTunes on a non-recurring basis. For more information, visit: http://www.questia.com/questialibraryplus

About Questia

Questia Media, Inc. partners with over 325 leading publishers to provide the world’s largest online academic library and research resource to end consumers on a subscription basis. Students, instructors, and lifelong learners in more than 200 countries use Questia’s collection of full-text books and articles for scholarly research in the humanities and social sciences. The collection includes valuable, copyrighted works and is selected and organized by Questia’s own professional librarians.

Questia’s unlimited, 24/7 access allows researchers to simultaneously use every item in its library from any connected corner of the world.

Questia Media, Inc. also provides Questia School, a teacher/student resource center that incorporates the digital library content with K12 class instruction and is designed for use by educators and students to enhance curricula.

Founded in 1998, Questia Media is based in Houston. For more information, visit http://www.questia.com/ and http://www.questiamedia.com.

CONTACT:  Sean Sullivan, Director, Consumer Sales & Marketing of Questia Media, Inc., +1-713-358-2658, ssullivan@questia.com

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ — StumbleUpon, the best way to discover new content on the Internet, today launches a completely updated and redesigned version.  With this update, come many new features and functions designed to make StumbleUpon simpler, searchable, and more social—improving the quality of results and the overall user experience.  StumbleUpon is the world’s largest web discovery engine, delivering over 450 million user recommendations each month.

Highlights of the new version include:

Simpler

• Anyone can receive personalized recommendations directly from the StumbleUpon homepage– from any computer, no install or registration required
• Simple, sleek site design and enhancements to the StumbleUpon add-on, make it more user friendly and make it easier for new users to begin discovering great websites

Searchable

• The same intelligence used to power “Stumbles” now applied to search—personal preferences along with collaborative human opinions help deliver the most personalized and relevant search results
• Search is now available on every StumbleUpon page, allowing users to search through their own favorites, others’ favorites, or exclusively through friends’ favorites

More Social

• Improved Friend search makes it easier to find the people you know on StumbleUpon and meet others with similar interests
• See recommendations from people you know highlighted in search results and easily Stumble or search within their favorite sites

“Our vision for StumbleUpon was simple—create a site where you could click a button and discover interesting, personalized and highly relevant websites,” said Garrett Camp, StumbleUpon CEO.  “We are now combining the power of discovery with search—and offering another way for people to access over 35 million user-endorsed websites.”

“It’s great to see the original founders’ vision reflected in this release, StumbleUpon’s first major product release since its independence from eBay,” said Ram Shriram, StumbleUpon investor and board member.

StumbleUpon is the Internet’s largest social discovery site, with 8.5M users, 11B ‘Stumbles,’ and an index of over 35M of the best sites on the web.  StumbleUpon is backed by company founders, Garrett Camp and Geoff Smith, as well as a number of well-known investors including Ram Shriram of Sherpalo Ventures, Accel Partners, and August Capital.

About StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon discovers Web sites based on your interests, learns what you like, and brings you more.  With over 8.5 million users and 450 million recommendations per month, StumbleUpon is the leading way to discover great content on the Internet.  More than 30,000 advertisers are using StumbleUpon to promote products and services.  Founded in 2001, StumbleUpon is based in San Francisco and backed by the same investors as Google and Facebook.  For more information, visit www.StumbleUpon.com.

CONTACT:

Rachel Petersen

rachel@nectarpr.com

+1-415-868-5595

of Nectar Communications for StumbleUpon

University of Ottawa showcases CRM innovations for student lifecycle management

BOCA RATON, Fla., Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ — Campus Management Corp® announced today an online event featuring University of Ottawa, where the company’s Talisma® Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) software has been deployed by Ottawa to achieve innovative new communications practices that are enhancing student recruiting, retention, and analytics institution-wide, in concert with the institution’s existing administrative system.

With Denise St. Jean and Robert Sawler of University of Ottawa’s Student IT Services, Campus Technology magazine looks into the institution’s vision for more holistic, end-to-end student services and how it has leveraged Talisma CRM software from Campus Management to achieve its goals – and enrich the image of the bi-lingual, over 150-year old institution serving more than 36,000 students.

The University of Ottawa has deployed the Talisma CRM technology to work with its student information system (SIS) to enhance services throughout the student’s academic lifecycle from admissions to graduation.  Entitled, Attaining the Vision: Enterprise-Wide Expansion of CRM, the webcast will expose how the university is using Talisma CRM to enhance and automate its admissions, viewbooks, SMS text messaging, housing requests, and more.

Hosted by Campus Technology magazine and sponsored by Campus Management, this webcast begins on October 13, 2009 at 2:00 pm EDT.  For more information or to register, please visit http://www.campusmanagement.com/en-us/newsandevents/webcasts/Pages/campus_webcasts.aspx.

About Campus Management Corp

More than 1,700 colleges, universities, foundations, and other companies in 35 countries rely upon Campus Management Corp® enterprise software products and services. Campus Management’s CampusVue® Ecosystem is a fully integrated, centralized administrative and e-learning platform that unifies services, academic delivery, administrative management and reporting for a full range of public, private and proprietary postsecondary institutions.

Campus Management’s award-winning student information systems, fundraising software, financials, HR solutions, and Talisma® CRM, the leading Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) solution for Higher Education, are used by more than 75 percent of the largest US-based proprietary career and online colleges as well as leading colleges, universities, foundations, and companies.  For more information, visit www.campusmanagement.com.

CONTACT: Media, Lisa Patterson, Corporate Communications Manager of Campus Management Corp, +1-561-213-8702, lpatterson@campusmgmt.com

Serving the mission and vision of resource-challenged community colleges

BOCA RATON, Fla., Oct. 7 /PRNewswire/ — Campus Management Corp®, a top-ranked provider of enterprise software and services for higher education, will be presenting at the League for Innovation’s Annual Conference on Information Technology, in Detroit, Michigan on October 12.

Chief marketing officer, Tim Gilbert, will share with community college executives some research and observations about technology trends and best practices of career and online colleges, and then open a roundtable discussion.  Topics include: Managing rapid growth of diverse student populations, strategies for academic planning and retention, and new tools and approaches to relationship management with alumni, businesses and other constituents.

Campus Management’s student administrative systems, financial aid software, career services, e-advising, and constituent relationship management (CRM) systems are deployed at 80 percent of the largest U.S.-based proprietary colleges, and its systems have been selected by small and large community colleges, junior colleges and technical schools.  Additionally, continuing education programs use the company’s administrative software to serve diverse adult and high school-age populations.

The session begins on Monday, October 12 at 2:30 p.m. For details, visit www.league.org/2009cit/sessions.cfm#270. Representatives of Campus Management will be in Booth 308 in the exhibit hall.

About Campus Management Corp

More than 1,700 colleges, universities, foundations, and other companies in 35 countries rely upon Campus Management Corp® enterprise software products and services. Campus Management’s CampusVue® Ecosystem is a fully integrated, centralized administrative and e-learning platform that unifies services, academic delivery, administrative management and reporting for a full range of public, private and proprietary postsecondary institutions.

Campus Management’s award-winning student information systems, fundraising software, financials, HR solutions, and Talisma CRM, the leading Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) solution for higher education, are used by more than 75 percent of the largest US-based proprietary career and online colleges as well as leading colleges, universities, foundations, and companies in 35 countries.  For more information, visit www.campusmanagement.com.

CONTACT:  Media, Lisa Patterson, Corporate Communications Manager of Campus Management Corp, +1-561-213-8702, lpatterson@campusmgmt.com

NEW YORK, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ —
Who: The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics co-chaired by William E. “Brit” Kirwan, Chancellor, University System of Maryland, and R. Gerald Turner, President, Southern Methodist University, will be joined by expert panelists including Jim Delany, Big Ten Commissioner; Cedric Dempsey, former NCAA President; Neal Pilson, former President, CBS Sports and Gene Smith, Director of Athletics, The Ohio State University.

What: The Knight Commission, an independent organization that promotes a reform agenda to better align college sports programs with educational missions, has conducted in-depth opinion research of FBS (formerly Division 1A) university presidents. This is a first-of-its-kind look at the attitudes of higher education leadership on college sports finances during uncertain economic times.

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Knight Commission’s founding, current and former members will meet to discuss the survey findings and their implications as well as assess the impact of policy changes made over the past two decades.

As part of the meeting, the Commission will launch College Sports 101, an interactive, Web-based report that provides an overview of the business and economic landscape of college sports. The report provides financial data that sheds new light on the key issues confronting higher education leaders. 

When: Monday, October 26th
9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. EDT – Commission Meeting (Agenda below)
Media are invited to attend the 20th Anniversary meeting.

3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. EDT – Media Call
A media conference call will also give reporters who cannot attend the meeting an opportunity to ask questions to the Knight Commission co-chairmen and researchers. Call-in information will be provided to those who RSVP.

Where:
EPIC Hotel, 270 Biscayne Boulevard Way, Miami, FL – To RSVP for the meeting or to receive call-in information for the media call, please contact Katie.Reardon@widmeyer.com.

9:30 – 9:35 a.m.
Public Session, Metropolis B: Recognition of Myles Brand’s contributions and moment of silence in his honor

9:35 – 10:50 a.m.
Public Session 1, Metropolis B: Assessing Two Decades of the Knight Commission’s Reform Agenda: To what extent has it improved intercollegiate athletics for institutions and athletes? Is the NCAA and its current governance structure equipped to address the rising financial stakes and their implications?

Panelists:
Ced Dempsey, former president, NCAA
Gene Smith, associate vice president and director of athletics, The Ohio State University

11:00 – 12:30 p.m.
Public Session 2, Metropolis B: Opportunities and Threats: Preserving Educational Values in an Increasingly Commercial Landscape for College Sports

Panelists:
Jim Delany, commissioner, Big Ten Conference
Pete Likins, president emeritus, University of Arizona
Neal Pilson, former president, CBS Sports

3:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Press Conference (in person and telephone), Baxter Room, EPIC

About the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics
The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics was formed by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in October 1989 in response to more than a decade of highly visible scandals in college sports. The goal of the Commission was to promote a reform agenda that emphasized academic values in a climate in which commercialization of college sports often overshadowed the underlying goals of higher education. The Commission, which presented recommendations in a series of reports in the early 1990s and in the subsequent A Call to Action in 2001, continues to monitor and advocate for changes necessary to enhance presidential control and leadership, academic integrity, financial integrity and independent certification of athletics programs.

About the Presidential Survey on the Cost and Financing of Intercollegiate Athletics
The survey reports the views of presidents for the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division 1A) universities on the costs and financing of intercollegiate athletics. The findings are based on 95 quantitative telephone interviews and 22 qualitative follow-up telephone interviews with presidents. The quantitative component achieved an 80 percent completion rate.  The study was conducted by Art & Science Group of Baltimore, MD, from March to July 2009.   

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. The Foundation focuses on ideas and projects that create transformational change.  For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.

CONTACT: For Media RSVPs, Katie Reardon, Widmeyer Communications for Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, +1-202-667-0901, ext. 1500 or +1-330-559-4754 (cell), Katie.Reardon@widmeyer.com