Success in intercollegiate athletics should be measured in the classroom as well as on the fields and arenas of competition. Kent State's athletic program has established itself as one of the Mid-American Conference's top performers in both championships won and academic acumen.
During the fall semester of the 2006-07 academic year, Kent State's student-athletes registered the highest cumulative grade point average (2.96) for the Golden Flashes since KSU began recording these numbers in 1983-84. In addition, a total of 209 student-athletes, including student athletic trainers and members of the cheerleading and dance teams, registered grade point averages between 3.0 and 4.0 at Kent State. That translates into a total of 59 percent of Kent State's 355 student-athletes who achieved a GPA of 3.0 or better last fall. This is the second-highest total at KSU since 1983. Only the total of 210 student-athletes who were deemed Athletic-Academic “All-Stars” at Kent State in fall of the 1999-2000 academic year surpassed this past year's total.
“The academic quality that our student-athletes are achieving in regards to high grade point averages, graduation rates, and progress towards academic degrees speaks to the quality and character of our student-athletes, the quality of our programs, the coaches, and the academic support staff that work with our student-athletes on a daily basis who are doing an outstanding job,” Kent State Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Laing Kennedy said.
KSU's volleyball team took home top team honors amongst the Golden Flashes' 18 intercollegiate teams with an accumulative GPA of 3.5048. The gymnastics team led the way individually as four women recorded GPA's of 4.0.
As a whole, Kent State's commitment to academic and athletic excellence has enabled the Golden Flashes to raise the accumulative GPA of the entire athletic program from 2.48 in 1983 to 2.93 at the conclusion of the spring 2007 semester.
Kent State's success in the classroom has translated to success athletically as well. In the first 65 years of the intercollegiate athletic competition the Golden Flashes won 24 conference championships and competed in NCAA post-season tournaments 30 times. In the past 25 years, the Golden Flashes have won a total of 97 MAC regular season and tournament championships and earned 72 trips to NCAA post-season tournament competition. Additionally, 44 student-athletes were honored with Academic All-MAC accolades in 2006-07.
“When you look at the mission of intercollegiate athletics at Kent State, which is to provide and environment for student-athletes to reach their potential as students and as athletes, these results show that we are succeeding in recruiting athletically and academically gifted student-athletes,” said Kennedy.
