Support boosts team GPAs

By By Jack Weinstein (Contact)

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

The University of Kansas athletics teams posted the second highest GPA in school history last semester. The 14 teams posted a combined 2.93 GPA. The highest still stands at 2.98, which was posted in Spring 2004.

Paul Buskirk, associate athletics director, student athlete support services, attributed the rise in GPA to a number of things. With the arrival of Lew Perkins, athletics director, in summer 2003, increases within the academic side of the Athletics Department increased markedly, Buskirk said.

Jim Marchiony, associate athletics director, said Perkins evaluated the academic support within the department.

“When Lew came here, he looked around everything, every aspect of what we do here,” Marchiony said. “He thought immediately that we needed to increase our support, improve our student athlete support area. We’ve increased the staff and the tutoring budget.”

Buskirk also attributed the recent academic success of the student athletes at the University to their recent athletic success. He noted the football team specifically. The Jayhawks finished 7-5, 3-5 Big 12, which included a victory in the Houston Bowl – the second bowl appearance for the ‘Hawks in the past three years.

The Kansas football team posted its highest GPA last spring at a collective 2.67.

“When student athletes are performing well athletically, they carry that over to other aspects of their lives,” Buskirk said. “They carry it over from the field to the classroom.”

Though the department was pleased with the second highest GPA in school history, Marchiony said the goal was still a 4.0 GPA. While he said that feat may be difficult to attain with more than 500 student athletes at the University, he said that they wouldn’t come close if they didn’t shoot for it.

Marchiony added that one of the main goals of the department was to put every student athlete on track to graduate in a four to five-year period.

“With the time they put into their sports, it requires dedication on the student athlete’s part,” Marchiony said. “It requires a dedicated faculty, which we have. It requires help from the student support area, which we have. With those things in place, I think were going to continue to see positive results.

“We’re not satisfied with a 2.93. We’re pleased that we have 40 athletes with 4.0s, but we want more than that.”

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