BELLINGHAM, Wash. – For the fifth time in the last six years, the Western Washington University Department of Athletics has earned the prestigious NCAA Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence.
 
WWU was among 44 NCAA Division II athletic programs to earn the award in 2022 and one of just four public institutions joining Georgia College, Michigan Tech and Truman State.
 
WWU's 15 varsity intercollegiate sports programs recorded a school-record 91% Academic Success Rate to earn the award for the fifth time dating back to 2017. School athletic departments that achieve a four-year academic success rate of 90 percent or higher earn the Presidents' Award. Western also earned the award in 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021 and now 2022, barely missing the mark by one percent in 2019.
 
"Our student-athletes continue to display their amazing ability to perform at elite levels in the classroom and in competition," said WWU Director of Athletics Steve Card. "The conference championships and postseason appearances are one thing, but for our student-athletes to perform at this academic level is exceptional. Earning the award five times in the last six years is truly a credit to the student-athletes, coaches, staff and faculty at WWU for making this award a reality."
 
The Academic Success Rate is the percentage of student-athletes who graduate within six years of initial collegiate enrollment and includes virtually all Division II student-athletes, including transfers and those not receiving athletic scholarships. This year's ASR and FGR tracks student-athletes who entered college in the 2015-16 academic year. The FGR tracks the six-year graduation rate of freshmen who received athletic aid in a four-year cohort from 2012 to 2015, as prescribed by the U.S. Department of Education.
 
Using the federal rate criteria, the four-year cohort of Viking student-athletes entering from 2012 to 2015 graduated at an 85 percent rate, compared to 68 percent for the full set of freshmen entering WWU in that period. Across NCAA Division II, student-athletes are also performing better than the general population by eight percentage points, with that same four-year cohort of student-athletes graduating at 60 percent, compared to 52 percent for all students who entered NCAA II institutions as freshmen in 2015-16.
 
"I am excited to honor and recognize the 44 schools for this prestigious award," said Steven Shirley, president of Minot State and chair of the Division II Presidents Council. "It is a testament to their hard work, commitment and dedication to achieving academic excellence."
 
WWU was joined by Great Northwest Athletic Conference member schools Seattle Pacific University as 2022 NCAA Presidents' Award Winners for Academic Excellence. Biola, Dominican and Point Loma Nazarene joined WWU and SPU as West Region institutions on the prestigious list.
  Here is the list of NCAA Division II member schools that earned the NCAA Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence in 2022. In addition to WWU, public schools that are part of this list of 44 schools include Michigan Tech, Truman State and Georgia College. The remaining 40 are all private institutions.
 

School	Four-Year ASR	Conference
Bentley University	99%	Northeast-10 Conference
Biola University	99%	Pacific West Conference
Saint Michael's College	99%	Northeast-10 Conference
Hillsdale College	98%	Great Midwest Athletic Conference
Thomas Jefferson University	97%	Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference
Trevecca Nazarene University	97%	Great Midwest Athletic Conference
Le Moyne College	95%	Northeast-10 Conference
Rollins College	95%	Sunshine State Conference
Caldwell University	94%	Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference
Cedarville University	94%	Great Midwest Athletic Conference
Dominican University of California	94%	Pacific West Conference
Georgia College	94%	Peach Belt Conference
Maryville University of Saint Louis	94%	Great Lakes Valley Conference
Michigan Technological University	94%	Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Rockhurst University	94%	Great Lakes Valley Conference
Davenport University	93%	Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Florida Southern College	93%	Sunshine State Conference
Mercy College	93%	East Coast Conference
Adelphi University	92%	Northeast-10 Conference
Eckerd College	92%	Sunshine State Conference
Holy Family University	92%	Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference
Lewis University	92%	Great Lakes Valley Conference
Saint Anselm College	92%	Northeast-10 Conference
Seattle Pacific University	92%	Great Northwest Athletic Conference
Assumption University	91%	Northeast-10 Conference
Augustana University (South Dakota)	91%	Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference
Barry University	91%	Sunshine State Conference
Chestnut Hill College	91%	Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference
Concordia University, St. Paul	91%	Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference
Converse University	91%	Conference Carolinas
D'Youville University	91%	East Coast Conference
Emory & Henry College	91%	South Atlantic Conference
Flagler College	91%	Peach Belt Conference
Point Loma Nazarene University	91%	Pacific West Conference
Southern New Hampshire University	91%	Northeast-10 Conference
Southern Wesleyan University	91%	Conference Carolinas
St. Thomas Aquinas College	91%	East Coast Conference
Truman State University	91%	Great Lakes Valley Conference
Western Washington University	91%	Great Northwest Athletic Conference
William Jewell College	91%	Great Lakes Valley Conference
Colorado Christian University	90%	Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference
Georgian Court University	90%	Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference
Mercyhurst University	90%	Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference
St. Edward's University	90%	Lone Star Conference

  Western Washington University is a four-year public institution located in Bellingham, Washington, featuring over 300 student-athletes that compete for 15 intercollegiate athletic teams at the NCAA Division II level and in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. WWU Athletics has finished in the top 50 in the NCAA II Learfield Directors' Cup standings in 16 of the past 17 years, and in the top 20 in eight of the last 13 years (no award in 2019-20 or 2020-21). WWU's programs have won 12 team national championships, most recently the 2022 women's soccer team and the 2017 women's rowing team. Outside of competition. WWU's student-athletes have compiled an academic success at 90% or better in five of the last six years, earning the NCAA's President's Award for Academic Excellence five times. The 2021-22 athletic season was another banner year for the Vikings, earning the GNAC All-Sports Trophy for the 13th time while capturing seven conference titles. Women's Basketball and Rowing led the way with national runner-up finishes, volleyball advanced to the Final Four for the third time in the last six seasons, women's soccer advanced to play in its sixth consecutive West Regional Final (Sweet 16), the men's track & field program swept the indoor and outdoor GNAC Championships and the men's and women's golf team both captured GNAC titles. The 2022-23 season is off to a great start as well with the women's soccer team capturing the national championship, men's and women's cross country sweeping GNAC titles and the volleyball team hosting the West Regional championship for the second time in program history.
  For more information on WWU's 15 varsity sports programs, visit WWUVikings.com. Fans and alumni can also track all the teams via social media accounts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @WWUAthletics.