Southern Wesleyan, Converse Earn Presidents’ Award for Academic Excellence
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence is awarded to Division II schools that have achieved an Academic Success Rate (ASR) of 90% or higher. This year, 43 member schools earned the honor, including Southern Wesleyan and Converse from Conference Carolinas.
Southern Wesleyan posted an ASR of 91% while Converse came in at 90%. Both institutions earned the honor for a second straight year.
"It is an honor recognizing 43 schools for this prestigious award," said Steven Shirley, president of Minot State and chair of the Division II Presidents Council. "I applaud these schools and student-athletes for their hard work, commitment and dedication to achieving academic excellence."
The Division II ASR includes transfers into a school in the calculation and removes transfers out who left school while academically eligible. The ASR also includes the more than 31,000 non-scholarship student-athletes who were enrolled in the four years covered in the most recent data.
Even when using the less-inclusive federal graduation rates, student-athletes are outperforming their peers in the general student population by 8%. For Division II athletes, the federal rate increased 1 percentage point to 60%, and the general student body increased 1 point to 52%.
This is the 11th year the award has been given. A complete list of the awardees can be found here.