ANDERSON, S.C. – Led by the men's tennis team's stellar performance in the classroom, Anderson University's student-athletes' academic achievement continues to rise to record heights, as they achieved an overall 3.26 grade point average for the fall semester, marking the Athletic Department's highest GPA in school history, as has been announced by the department.
At the conclusion of the spring, 2016 semester, Black and Gold clad student-athletes achieved a then-departmental record 3.24 GPA, which at the time eclipsed the previous 3.16 departmental record, which was set just five months earlier.
Last week it was announced that the men's tennis squad became the first men's team in the 12-year history of the Dr. Shirley Jacks Award to earn the honor of recording the department's highest GPA, with a stellar 3.65 mark. The team will be presented with the award, which is given to the team that possesses the highest grade point average at the end of each semester, later this year.
"We are very proud of our student-athletes' academic accomplishments," said Vice President for Athletics Bill D'Andrea." "They have to balance both athletic and academic demands on their time. Our class attendance policy continues to positively impact the GPA and our faculty, which does a tremendous job of working with our student-athletes, deserves credit for the increase, along with our coaches and of course our student-athletes themselves."
Nearly every team achieved at least a 3.0 GPA for the semester, with the overall 3.26 GPA for the athletic department coming in just shy of the 3.39 mark achieved by AU's traditional full-time undergraduate students.
