MURFREESBORO - Chowan University student-athlete, Allie Kolezynski, received news last week that she was voted as a new member to the NCAA's National Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Kolezynski, a junior member of the CU softball team, was nominated for the postion in October. A committee formed by the NCAA voted on the new membership at the NCAA Convention in San Antonio earlier this month. Kolezynski will represent the CIAA as a member of the National SAAC Committee. Her appointment will begin immediatley and her term will last three years. Kolezynski is a stand out player for the 2010 CIAA Championship softball program and was named to the CIAA Commissioner's All-Academic Team a year ago.

KolezynskiKolezynski is a two-year member of the Chowan University SAAC and has excelled both on the playing field and in the classroom while at Chowan. She has maintained a 3.98 overall grade point average and is has been on the CU President's List since enrolling at Chowan two years ago. The Strongsville, Ohio native helped the Hawks softball team to a 2010 CIAA Championship and has been a member of the NCCAA All Region and All American teams during her playing tenure. She was an All-CIAA performer a year ago as a designated player.

DII SAAC is a committee consisting of the 23 Division II multi-sport voting conferences, one representative of Division II independent institutions, and two at-large representatives. Additionally, two members of the Management Council and one member of the Presidents Council will serve as ex-officio and nonvoting members.

DII SAAC members serve as student-athlete liaisons between the happenings on campus, conference and national levels. Members are selected by the Division II SAAC Nominating Sub-Committee from a diverse pool of candidates submitted by the conference office. The Division II Management Council ratify the appointment and each student-athlete serves a non-renewable 3-year term; however the student-athlete may only serve up to one year after exhausting their eligibility.
Each representative is responsible for gathering feedback and reporting out on behalf of their conference and partner conference, as well as relaying important events, hot topics and educational information to both the campus and conference levels. In addition to relaying information across campuses and conferences, DII SAAC speaks on the behalf of the entire DII student-athlete body throughout the NCAA governance structure.

Currently, one representative from the DII National SAAC may sit on a multitude of Division II and association-wide committees in order to provide the student-athlete perspective on related issues. It is through these mechanisms that the NCAA Division II student-athlete offer input to assist in shaping the proposed legislation and other policies by which their division is governed.