May 13, 2010
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Two University of Missouri athletic programs have been recognized by the NCAA with a public recognition award for their respective multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores, announced on Wednesday. The women's basketball and women's golf teams both received the honor for the third consecutive year as the programs posted an APR in the top 10 percent in their sports.
One of 43 women's basketball programs honored, the squad was also one of three programs from the Big 12 Conference honored and joins Auburn University, DePaul University, The Ohio State University, the University of Georgia, the University of Nebraska, the University of Oklahoma and Villanova University as the only schools from Bowl Championship Series (BCS) conferences to earn the award.
Head Coach Stephanie Priesmeyer's women's golf team was one of 62 programs recognized nationally and was one of three Big 12 schools that were honored, joining Baylor University and the University of Texas.
The NCAA created the APR Public Recognition Award in 2007 to honor Division I sports teams for their multi-year success in the Academic Progress Rate scores. The public recognition awards are part of the broad Division I academic reform effort.
The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete. The APR includes eligibility, retention and graduation in the calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport.
High-performing teams receiving awards posted APR scores ranging from 978 to a perfect 1,000. The number of teams in some sports may exceed 10 percent depending on how many achieved perfect scores. The most recent APRs are multi-year rates based on scores from the 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years.
"Most Division I student-athletes and teams take seriously their dual
responsibilities in the classroom and on the court or field of play, but every year there is a special category of teams that perform exceptionally well and deserve this noteworthy recognition," NCAA Interim President Jim Isch said.
The 841 teams publicly recognized this year for high achievement represent 13.4 percent of the 6,297 eligible Division I teams. The list includes 492 women's teams and 349 men's or mixed squads.
