NCAA Division I Institutional Performance Program Self-Study
Grand Canyon University President Brian Mueller announced on July 7, 2015 that GCU will begin a year-long, campus-wide effort to study its athletics program as part of the NCAA Division I Institutional Performance Program (IPP). Specific areas the study will cover are governance and commitment to rules compliance, academic integrity, and gender/diversity and student-athlete wellbeing.

While academic accreditation is common in colleges and universities, this program focuses solely on the athletics programs. Following a two-year pilot project, the NCAA Division I membership overwhelmingly supported the program and its standards at the 1993 NCAA Convention.

Mission of the Institutional Performance Program
The Institutional Performance Program's purpose is to help ensure integrity in the institution's athletics operations. The program opens up athletics to the rest of the university/college community and to the public. Institutions will benefit by increasing campus-wide awareness and knowledge of the athletics program, confirming its strengths and developing plans to improve areas of concern.

Committees Performing the Study
The committees responsible for the study will include President Brian Mueller, Brian Roberts (Steering Committee), Chris Linderson (Governance and Compliance Committee), Antoinette Farmer (Academic Integrity Committee) and Jennifer Lech (Gender Equity, Diversity and Student-Athlete Welfare Committee), as well as various members of the institution's faculty and staff and athletics department personnel.

A member of the NCAA academic and membership affairs staff will conduct a one-day orientation visit with the committee and its subcommittees. Within each area to be studied by the committee, the program has standards known as operating principles that were adopted by the Association to establish benchmarks by which all active Division I members are evaluated.

Peer Review and Evaluation
When GCU has concluded its study, an external team of reviewers will conduct a three or four-day evaluation visit on campus. The reviewers will be peers from other colleges, universities or conference offices. The peer-review team will report to the NCAA Division I Committee on Institutional Performance. The committee will then determine whether the institution has successfully completed the Institutional Performance Program process. The institution must successfully complete the process prior to being considered for election to the Division I membership.

About the National Collegiate Athletic Association
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.