Bison Garner GAC-Best 140 D2 ADA Academic Awards

SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist student-athletes continue to garner national academic honors as 140 Bison were recipients of the Division 2 Athletics Directors Association Academic Achievement Awards announced Wednesday.
 
OBU's 140 honorees were the most in the Great American Conference, and ranked 25^th nationally among all NCAA Division II programs.
 
In total, a record-breaking 16,262 student-athletes from 188 institutions were recognized with 2020-21 Academic Achievement Awards, including 700 from the GAC.
 
Now in its 14^th year, the D2 ADA Academic Achievement Awards is a program that recognizes the academic accomplishments of student-athletes at the Division II level.
 
"It is incredible to think that our athletes excelled in the classroom despite having to deal with the many stressors associated with COVID-19. To see once again that a record-breaking number of students are recipients of the D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award is simply astonishing," said Dr. Bren Stevens, Vice President for Athletics at the University of Charleston and current D2 ADA President. "I am extraordinarily impressed by the efforts of our member institutions to ensure that they provide special recognitions for their respective athletes, as they are certainly deserving."
 
In order for a student-athlete to receive an Academic Achievement Award, the athletics director of the Division II institution must be a current dues-paying member of the D2 ADA.

Additionally, the student-athlete must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale, have attended a minimum of two years (four semesters) of college level work, and have been an active member of an intercollegiate team during his/her last academic year. Given the vast experiences institutions have had this year when it comes to participation, all athletes who met bullet point items 1 and 2 were still eligible as long as they were still an active member of the roster during this academic year.