FORT LAUDERDALE – For the Nova Southeastern University student-athletes, academic achievement and success in the classroom is just as important as their individual and team performance in their respective sports. Their dedication and hard work, along with the support of coaches and members of the Academic Services and Student-Athlete Support staff, has resulted in the athletic department posting a 3.17 cumulative grade point average for the Fall 2015 semester.
 
"Academic excellence is one of the core values at Nova Southeastern University and a main pillar of success within the Department of Athletics," Director of Athletics Michael Mominey said. "We are equally proud of our student-athletes as scholars as we are with their success on the field. The winning culture we have been able to establish over the past several years begins with success in the classroom, and our student-athletes truly understand the priority of being a student above and beyond everything else."
 
This matches the athletic department's highest recorded cumulative semester GPA. And, this achievement is the fifth consecutive semester where the department GPA has been at 3.10 or above at the end of an academic term.
 
"At NSU, we have developed a strong academic culture that our student-athletes help create through their commitment to academic achievement," Assistant Athletic Director for Academic Services and Student-Athlete Support CA Tolchinsky, Ed.D said. "When you have the kind of results we are seeing on a year-to-year basis, it demonstrates the pride and dedication to academics taken by our administration, coaches as well as the student-athletes. I couldn't be more proud of the high standards they are setting."
 
Out of 334 student-athletes, 63 percent recorded a GPA of 3.0 or higher at the conclusion of the fall term, while 21 student-athletes posted a perfect 4.0 GPA and 101 student-athletes (28.4 percent) posted grade point averages between 3.50 and 3.99.
 
Of the Sharks' 17 intercollegiate teams, 13 finished with a team GPA greater than 3.0. The women's sport with the highest Fall 2015 GPA was the nationally-ranked women's basketball team, which posted a 3.55 GPA for the semester, while the men's soccer team had the highest mark among the Sharks' seven men's teams, finishing with a 3.19 GPA.  
 
Dr. Tolchinsky added, "The NSU community is very proud of the academic performance of its student-athletes who represent the institution. I believe their success is due to the excellent resources on our campus and the collaboration among departments to ensure the success of each student. Many of the campus offices take the time and conveniently provide student-athletes with their services in our Atheltics Academic Center. By making their services easily and readily available, they are utilized more frequently. Those departments providing drop-in services include Writing Fellows, Office of Tutoring and Testing, Academic Advising, Career Services, Library Services and Office of Disability Services."