BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Each year, the NCAA honors select NCAA Division I sports teams by publicly recognizing their latest multi-year NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate. LIU Brooklyn's men's golf, women's golf, women's tennis and volleyball programs earned recognition by the organization for the 2014-15 academic year, it was announced on Wednesday.
The four team awards are the most for LIU Brooklyn's athletic department since the NCAA began bestowing such honors in 2004-05. For men's golf, it is the second straight year that the program has been recognized by the NCAA.
More than 1,000 Division I sports teams are being recognized for outstanding performance in the classroom, based on their most recent multiyear Academic Progress Rate, these teams have earned NCAA Public Recognition Awards for posting scores in the top 10 percent of their sport. The APR is an annual scorecard of academic achievement calculated for all Division I sports teams nationally.
The 1,071 teams publicly recognized for high achievement include 649 women's teams and 422 men's or mixed squads. This year, schools combined the indoor and outdoor track and field teams into one team score, which slightly reduced the overall number of teams earning Public Recognition Awards.
The scores required to be in the top 10 ranged from 983 to a perfect 1,000, depending on the sport. Earning a perfect APR score were 944 teams.
While the winter championships season is still ongoing and spring championships have not taken place, five NCAA national champions are already included in this year's award list: Villanova University men's basketball; University of California, Los Angeles, men's water polo; Columbia University men's fencing; University of Georgia women's swimming and diving; Pennsylvania State University women's soccer; and Penn State wrestling.
A total of 290 schools placed at least one team on the top APR list.
Brown University earned the highest number of Public Recognition Awards (21), followed by Dartmouth College (19), Bucknell University (17) and Stanford University (17). One-hundred teams from The Ivy League were recognized – the most of any conference – followed by the Patriot League (94), Atlantic Coast Conference (81) and Big Ten Conference (69).
Gonzaga University led all schools with the highest percentage of its teams (80 percent) among those at the top of the APR list. More than three-quarters of Lafayette College's teams made the list.
All Division I teams' APR scores will be released April 20. All teams must meet a certain academic threshold to qualify for the postseason and can face penalties for continued low academic performance.
The APR measures eligibility, graduation and retention each term and provides a clear picture of the academic performance for each team in every sport.
The most recent APRs are multiyear rates based on scores from the 2011-2012, 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 academic years.