NAU Athletics Again Prospers In Classroom And Department Secures 6th Straight Semester With 3.00 GPA

FLAGSTAFF — Classroom success continues for the Northern Arizona University athletics department. The department’s academic report was released Wednesday, and the 350-plus student-athletes in the athletics department combined for a cumulative grade-point average of 3.03 in the spring semester 2001, marking the sixth consecutive semester that the department GPA was 3.00 or better. This mark far exceeds that of the general student body at NAU. The department all-time record for cumulative GPA in a semester is 3.07, which was established in the spring of 1999.

“I commend our student-athletes, coaches and our academic support people for their commitment to continuing the strong academic tradition we have established here,” Athletics Director Steve Holton said. “I’m especially pleased with the department GPA exceeding 3.00 for three straight years. This just continues to show that besides our success on the playing field as athletes with the conference championships we’ve won, we also have student-athletes. I’m very proud of everyone’s efforts.”

Nine of the 11 athletics programs at NAU (cross country and track and field are combined) posted cumulative GPAs above 3.00. The 82 percent of programs with 3.00 or better sets a department record for the best percentage of 3.00 GPA programs in the overall department.

The women’s tennis team led all programs in spring 2001 with a cumulative GPA of 3.39, as seven programs boasted GPAs of 3.20 or better. In analysis of semester GPAs in the spring, eight programs topped the 3.00 mark and three surpassed 3.20, led by the volleyball team’s program-record 3.47 GPA.

The department-wide semester GPA was a solid 2.98, which tied for the third-best since NAU Athletics began charting grades of its student-athletes in the 1992-93 academic year.