Converse, Southern Wesleyan 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, 44 member schools earned the honor, including Southern Wesleyan and Converse from Conference Carolinas.
Converse and Southern Wesleyan each posted an ASR of 91 percent. Both institutions earned the honor for a third straight year.
"I am excited to honor and recognize the 44 schools for this prestigious award," said Steven Shirley, president of Minot State and chair of the Division II Presidents Council. "It is a testament to their hard work, commitment and dedication to achieving academic excellence."
The Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence is awarded to Division II schools that have achieved a four-cohort (2012-15) Academic Success Rate of 90% or higher. The NCAA and the federal government measure time to graduate within a six-year window of first-time enrollment. Thus, the graduation rates for the 2012-2015 cohorts would have been reported from 2019 to 2022.
The Division II ASR includes transfers into a school in the calculation and removes those who transferred out while academically eligible. The ASR also includes the more than 30,000 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 rate, student-athletes are outperforming their peers in the general student population by 8 percentage points. For Division II student-athletes, the federal rate is 60%, while the general student body federal rate is 52%.
This is the 12th year the award has been given. A complete list of the awardees can be found here.