Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Sets New School Record with 21 APR Awards, Ranks No. 3 Nationally
5/7/2014 11:53:00 AM | General
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Twenty-one of Bucknell's 27 varsity athletics programs received 2014 Academic Progress Rate (APR) Public Recognition Awards, the NCAA announced today, and that is a new school record and the third-highest total among the 346 Division I institutions, trailing only Dartmouth (26) and Brown (22). Bucknell has ranked among the national leaders in Public Recognition Awards in all nine years since the NCAA began honoring programs that fall in the top 10 percent in APR scores within their respective sports.
According to the NCAA, 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 this year posted APR scores ranging from 980 to a perfect 1,000.
Specific multi-year APR scores for all Division I sports teams, including the teams receiving Public Recognition Awards, will be announced on May 14.
Bucknell has earned at least 16 Public Recognition Awards every year so far. The previous high was 19, set one year ago. Bison programs honored this year are: baseball, men's basketball, men's and women's cross country, field hockey, women's golf, men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, softball, women's swimming and diving, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's indoor track and field, men's and women's outdoor track and field, volleyball and men's and women's water polo.
There are 146 programs in the entire country that have earned an APR Public Recognition Award in each of the nine years since the program was initiated. Seven of those 146 are Bucknell teams, including men's cross country, men's and women's tennis, women's golf, women's lacrosse, women's soccer and women's indoor track and field.
This year a total of 1,049 Division I programs received Public Recognition Awards, including 631 women's teams and 418 men's or mixed squads. A total of 275 institutions, out of 346 Division I colleges and universities, placed at least one team on the top APR list.
As a conference, the Patriot League received a total of 94 Public Recognition Awards this year. That is the second-highest total in the nation, behind only the Ivy League with 117. The Atlantic Coast Conference was third with 77.
This recognition represents a continuation of widespread national acknowledgement of Bucknell's scholar-athlete success. Bucknell annually ranks among the national leaders in graduation rates – including a No. 1 national ranking in the latest NCAA survey last fall -- and the Bison rank fifth nationally among all Division I programs in total number of Academic All-Americans.
Under the APR system, a student-athlete can be awarded two points per semester -- one for remaining academically eligible throughout the semester and another for being retained for the next term. Team percentages are then calculated to determine its APR. The upcoming APR report will represent a four-year average based on institutional reporting for the 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 academic years. Teams that do not meet a baseline score of 925 could face sanctions such as loss of scholarships.
In last year's APR report, every Bison program received a score of at least 963 and 19 programs had a cumulative 1,000 score.
Bucknell is a highly-selective, privately endowed liberal arts institution with an enrollment of approximately 3,500 undergraduate students. Bucknell competes in NCAA Division I as a member of the Patriot League and has full membership along with American, Army, Boston University, Colgate, Holy Cross, Lafayette, Lehigh, Loyola Maryland and Navy. Bucknell has won the Presidents' Cup, signifying the Patriot League's all-sports champion, in 18 of 23 years, including 14 of the last 16.
