Four Butler Teams Earn NCAA Academic Recognition

INDIANAPOLIS, IND. -- Four Butler University athletic teams received Public Recognition Awards from the NCAA on Wednesday (May 12).  The award, presented to Butler’s men’s and women’s basketball teams, women’s tennis team and women’s golf team, is given annually to teams scoring in the top 10 percent in each sport with their Academic Progress Rates (APR).

Each year the NCAA honors selected Division I sports teams by publicly recognizing their latest multiyear APR.  The announcement is part of the overall Division I academic reform effort and is intended to highlight teams that demonstrate a commitment to academic progress and retention of student-athletes by achieving the top APRs within their respective sports.

A total of 841 teams earned NCAA Public Recognition Awards this year, up from 767 teams last year.  Butler was one of just 13 schools in the nation to have both its men’s and women’s basketball teams honored.  The 841 total teams honored represent 13.4 percent of the 6,297 eligible Division I teams.

The APR provides a real-time view of a team’s academic success by tracking the progress of each student-athlete during the school year.  The APR accounts for eligibility, retention and graduation and provides a measure of each team’s academic performance.

Multi-year APRs for all Division I sports teams, including the teams receiving public recognition, will be announced at a later date.  That announcement also will include immediate and historical penalties for low-performing teams.  The most recent APRs are multi-year rates based on scores from the 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years.