Peach Belt Presidents’ Academic Award Presented to UNC Pembroke

HILTON HEAD, S.C. -- The University of North Carolina at Pembroke athletic department was presented with their first-ever PBC Presidents’ Academic Award at the league’s annual meetings in Hilton Head.  The award recognizes excellence in academics concerning all of an institution’s student-athletes.  2009-10 is the fifth year the award has been presented.

This spring, the Peach Belt Conference asked each of the league’s 13 members to submit an average GPA for the undergraduate student body and a GPA for all student-athletes.  These two numbers were then used to create a ratio identifying which school’s athletes were performing the most ahead of the curve in comparison to the student body.  Schools were not measured against one another, just their athletes to their students.  UNC Pembroke had the highest ratio at 1.106, but at 11 of the 13 PBC member institutions the student-athletes had, on average, a better GPA than the general student body.

The Presidents’ Academic Award is part of a larger conference program to highlight the accomplishments of PBC student athletes in the classroom as well as on the field.

(L to R): UNCP Faculty Athletic Representative Dr. Jeff Frederick; V.C. for Student Affairs Dr. Diane Jones; Chancellor Dr. Charles Jenkins; SWA Robin Langley and Athletic Director Dan Kenney accept the Presidents' Academic Award.