UT celebrates more good academic news

KNOXVILLE — Thirteen of the University of Tennessee’s 16 athletic teams posted grade point averages of 3.00 or better for the 2018 spring semester, according to the university.

In total, the university’s student-athletes had a 3.07 GPA for the spring semester, tying the highest single-semester GPA for UT athletes on record.

“As a department, we talk frequently about fostering a culture that celebrates achievement, and these numbers serve as proof that the mission of academic excellence is effective here at Tennessee,” athletic director Phillip Fulmer said in a release.

Tennessee did not specify which three sports posted a cumulative GPA below 3.00. The news of Tennessee’s strong academic semester came just days after the NCAA released Academic Progress Rate scores for the 2016-17 academic year.

All of Tennessee’s multiyear APR scores remained above the 930 threshold required to avoid penalties.

Tennessee’s lowest multiyear score in the 2016-17 rankings is men’s basketball (959), while its highest scores are men’s cross country, women’s golf, women’s tennis and women’s track and field, all a perfect 1,000. The football team’s score for 2016-17 was 964, which makes its multiyear score 972.

“I could not be more excited about the APR performances that we continue to see,” senior associate athletic director and assistant provost Joe Scogin said in a release.

Scogin oversees the Thornton Center, which provides academic support for student-athletes at Tennessee.

“Seeing these championship-level results shows how our coaches, administrators, Thornton staff, and student-athletes have invested in creating a culture of excellence every single day,” Scogin said in the release. “I firmly believe that these results are just a by-product of the holistic student-athlete experience we strive to provide at UT. It is very special to see this work manifest itself in so many ways, one of which is the APR performances we’re seeing today.”