INDIANAPOLIS---Myles Brand, the first university president to serve as the NCAA’s chief executive and a champion of academic reform, presidential leadership and student-athlete well-being, is the posthumous recipient of the 2010 NCAA President’s Gerald R. Ford Award.
Brand began his tenure at the NCAA in January 2003 after having served as president of Indiana University and the University of Oregon. He died September 16, 2009, from pancreatic cancer at the age of 67.
The Ford Award, created and first presented by Brand in 2004, is a testament to the importance he placed on recognizing those who have contributed to intercollegiate athletics in higher education over the course of one’s professional career.
NCAA Interim President Dr. Jim Isch will present the award to Brand’s wife, Dr. Peg Brand, associate professor of philosophy and women’s studies at IUPUI, at the opening business session of the 2010 NCAA Convention on January 14 in Atlanta.
“Myles’ impact on higher education and intercollegiate athletics was significant and profound,” said Isch. “He clearly was the embodiment of what he saw was important to honor with the Ford Award. Myles’ unwavering commitment to the student-athlete experience resulted in tremendous progress for the Association that we had not seen prior to his presidency. He worked to ensure that the values of higher education and intercollegiate athletics were preserved and that they would direct our future actions.”
Born May 17, 1942, Brand earned his Bachelor of Science degree in philosophy from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1964 and his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Rochester in 1967. He served at Indiana from 1994 through 2002 and at Oregon from 1989 through 1994.
Brand’s other administrative posts included provost and vice president for academic affairs at The Ohio State University (1986-89); coordinating dean at the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arizona (1985-86); dean of the faculty of social and behavioral sciences at Arizona (1983-86); director of Arizona’s Cognitive Science Program (1982-85); head of the Department of Philosophy at Arizona (1981-83); and chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Illinois-Chicago (1972-80). He began his career in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh in 1967.
Brand also served on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Association of American Universities and as board chair (1999-2000), a member of the board of directors (1992-97) and executive committee (1994-97) of the American Council on Education. He was a member of the board of directors of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (1995-98) and served as a board member of the American Philosophical Association and of the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development, the umbrella organization for Internet2.
His academic research investigated the nature of human action. His work focused on intention, desire, belief and other cognitive states, as well as deliberation and practical reasoning, planning and general goal-directed activity. He also wrote extensively on various topics in higher education, such as tenure and undergraduate education.
From the first weeks of the NCAA presidency, Brand was a champion for the student-athlete, dedicated to enhancing the academic environment and eliminating the phrase “dumb jock” from the public’s perception. His commitment to academic excellence changed the culture of college sports to emphasize the importance of classroom performance and competitive success.
More than just a casual observer of progress, Brand was actively committed to advancing fairness and equal opportunity throughout intercollegiate athletics, calling for more patient and thorough hiring practices for athletics administrators and coaches. He called the lack of ethnic minority football head coaches leading Division I Football Bowl Subdivision teams, “simply unjustifiable.”
He also declared that “presidential control of intercollegiate athletics is essential,” and developed mechanisms for encouraging presidents not only to practice control over athletics operations, but also to provide leadership in establishing a proper place for sports in the academic missions of universities and colleges.
This is the seventh year the NCAA has presented the Gerald R. Ford Award. University of Notre Dame President Emeritus Theodore Hesburgh received the inaugural award in 2004 and former Knight Commission chair William Friday was the 2005 recipient. In 2006, Birch Bayh, former United States Senator from Indiana and “Father of Title IX”, and John Wooden, legendary UCLA men’s basketball coach who won 10 national championships, were dual recipients of the award. Christine Grant, former director of women’s athletics at the University of Iowa, received the award in 2007. James Frank, former membership president of the NCAA, was the 2008 recipient, and Billie Jean King, tennis great and champion for social change and equality, was the 2009 recipient.
Ford was the 38th president of the United States, taking office in 1974 after President Richard Nixon resigned. Ford was president until 1977. Ford played football at the University of Michigan where he participated on national championship teams in 1932 and 1933. He started every game at center his senior year and was voted Most Valuable Player by his teammates. Ford received contract offers from the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions, which he turned down in favor of studying law at Yale University. Before beginning his law classes, Ford coached freshman football and boxing.
Ford died on December 26, 2006, at the age of 93.
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