June 5, 2009

Mount Holyoke’s Miki Yoshida Selected to Serve on National SAAC

Mount Holyoke's Miki Yoshida Selected to Serve on National SAAC

Hong Kong native will represent NEWMAC and GNAC

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (June 1, 2009) - Mount Holyoke College sophomore Miki Yoshida (Hong Kong, China/Hong Kong Int'l) has been named to the NCAA Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). Her term of service will begin immediately and continue through May 1, 2012. Yoshida will represent both the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) and the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC).

"I'm honored to be given the opportunity to represent a wide range of student-athlete voices and am really excited to be part of the National SAAC," said Yoshida, who competes in butterfly events for the Lyons swimming and diving team.

Yoshida was a member of Mount Holyoke's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee in 2008-09 and will be a part of the group again in 2009-10. She serves on the organization's Diversity and Inclusion sub-committee. The Hong Kong native is also a member of the Community Service Team that has been assembled to assist in organizing the 2009 NCAA Division III Field Hockey National Championship, which is slated to take place at Mount Holyoke in November. Yoshida recently attended the NCAA National Student-Athlete Development Conference in Orlando, Fla.

"Miki has been a team and campus leader, and we are so pleased that this new role as NCAA Division III SAAC representative will enable her to take her leadership skills to the next level," said Mount Holyoke Director of Athletics Laurie Priest. "She is an exceptional scholar athlete who will represent the NEWMAC and GNAC with distinction."

The National SAAC is comprised of 24 individuals representing the 43 conferences and independent institutions within Division III. Its members serve as student-athlete liaisons between the happenings on campuses, within conferences and on national levels. Members are selected by the Division III SAAC Nominating Committee from a diverse pool of candidates submitted by the conference offices. The Division III Nominating Committee and Management Council ratify the appointments, and each student-athlete serves a non-renewable three-year term.

Each representative is responsible for gathering feedback and reporting out on behalf of their conference and partner conference. Members are expected to relay important events, hot topics and educational information to both their campus and their conference. The Division III National SAAC strives to represent the voice of the student-athlete and takes great pride in the well-being of all student-athletes.

In addition, the Division III SAAC speaks on the behalf of the entire Division III student-athlete body throughout the NCAA governance structure. Currently, one representative from the Division III National SAAC may sit on a multitude of Division III and association-wide committees in order to provide the student-athlete perspective on related issues. In addition, two Division III SAAC members sit as voting members on the Division III Management Council, the second highest governing committee in Division III, in order to provide feedback and input on legislation, governance concerns, and membership decisions. It is through these mechanisms that the NCAA Division III student-athletes offer input to assist in shaping the proposed legislation and other policies by which their division is governed.