April 23, 2009

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Two University of Missouri athletic programs have been recognized by the NCAA with a public recognition award for their respective multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores, announced on Wednesday. The women's basketball and women's golf teams both received the honor for the second consecutive year as the programs posted an APR in the top 10 percent in their sports.

One of 41 women's basketball programs honored, Head Coach Cindy Stein's squad was also one of two programs from the Big 12 Conference honored and joins Boston College, DePaul University, The Ohio State University, the University of Connecticut, the University of Nebraska and Villanova University as the only schools from Bowl Championship Series (BCS) conferences to earn the award.

Head Coach Stephanie Priesmeyer's women's golf team was one of 47 programs recognized nationally and was one of three Big 12 schools that were honored.

The NCAA created the APR Public Recognition Award in 2007 to honor Division I sports teams for their multi-year success in the Academic Progress Rate scores. The public recognition awards are part of the broad Division I academic reform effort.

The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete. The APR includes eligibility, retention, and graduation in the calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport.

High-performing teams receiving awards posted APR scores ranging from 976 to a perfect 1,000, according to NCAA President Myles Brand.

Multi-year APR scores for all 6,484 Division I sports teams, including the teams receiving public recognition awards, will be announced May 6.