Academic Excellence and Awards

Academic Excellence and Awards
The Tribe's athletic accomplishments do not come at the expense of its student-athlete's academic responsibilities, as William & Mary had eight teams rank in the top 10 percent of their sport for Academic Progress Rates among all Division I programs and receive a Public Recognition Award by the NCAA in 2020. W&M's eight awards ranked third nationally among public and federal universities, and also ranked first in the Colonial Athletic Association and in the state of Virginia. The department's 993.95 average among the 21 teams was the highest among all public universities.

W&M ranked among the top 4 percent of NCAA institutions for the cohort that began college in 2011-12 in the NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and the Federal Graduation Rate (FGR). Tribe Athletics had an overall Federal rate of 86 percent, while the NCAA rate was 95 percent. The Tribe ranked 11th among all Division I institutions in the FGR, and led all public universities in the FGR for the its 15th-straight year out of 15 that the NCAA has been tracking the figure. W&M was once again the nation's best public university athletic department for graduating its athletes, a distinction that W&M has earned every year since 2004-05.

W&M Student-Athletes posted a record cumulative GPA of 3.32 in 2019-20 and 21 of the Tribe's 23 programs posted team GPAs of 3.0 or better. Through the 2019-20 academic year 194 student-athletes have been elected to Phi Beta Kappa, while four Rhodes Scholars were W&M student-athletes. In 2002-03, the CAA created a Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award in each of its sports, and not surprisingly, W&M set the pace with 74 winners through the 2016-17 academic year. In 2017-18, the award changed to recognize two athletes from each school, with two of those school winners then earning the title of CAA Scholar-Athlete of the Year. In the first year of the program, men's basketball standout Paul Rowley was named the CAA Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and in 2018-19, swimmer Claire Williams was named the CAA Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

W&M Scholar-Athlete of the Year Nominees
Year	Male	Female	Men's Basketball	Women's Basketball
2017-18	Bodie Sheehan, Baseball	Erin Menges, Field Hockey	Paul Rowley (MBB winner, overall winner)	Jenna Green
2018-19	Julian Ngoh, Soccer	Claire Williams, Swimming (overall winner)	Paul Rowley	Bianca Boggs
2019-20	Brandon Raquet, Baseball	Cassidy Goodwin, Field Hockey	Bryce Barnes	Ashley Taylor

Beginning in 2016-17, the Colonial Athletic Association began honoring team academic champions in each of its 22 sports, recognizing the school with the highest GPA in that sport. In the first three years of the program, William & Mary ranks second overall with 11 awards total, winning three in 2016-17 and four each year since. The Tribe's nine men's awards are move than each of the next two schools combined.

W&M CAA Academic Team Champions
Year	Teams
2016-17	Men's Golf, Baseball, Women's Track & Field
2017-18	Men's Swimming & Diving, Men's Basketball, Men's Track & Field, Baseball
2018-19	Men's Swimming & Diving, Men's Golf, Men's Track & Field, Women's Track & Field

Beginning in 2017-18, the Colonial Athletic Association began honoring one outstanding student-athlete in each sport who embodies the highest standards of leadership, integrity, teamwork, and sportsmanship in both their academic and athletic achievements. The CAA Leadership & Sport Excellence Awards mirror the criteria used for decades in the Dean Ehlers Leadership Award (for men's and women's basketball) and the Chuck Boone Leadership Award (for football).

CAA Leadership & Sport Excellence Award
Year	Winners
2017-18
2018-19	Claire Williams (Women's Swimming & Diving)
2019-20	Victoria Gersch (Women's Track & Field) and Ben Skopic (Men's Swimming)

William & Mary began awarding the Provost's Award in 2003-04, to student-athletes who consistently earned above-average grades. For the first six years, to be eligible freshmen had to earn a 3.75 or better in their first semester and all others had to carry above a 3.5 through the fall semester of each year. Beginning in 2009-10, all athletes had to have a 3.5 GPA or better to be eligible, with 10 straight years of record-setting numbers of athletes honored.

W&M Provost's Award Winners Year-by-Year
Year	Winners
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06	49
2006-07	62
2007-08
2008-09	49
2009-10	75
2010-11	82
2011-12	82
2012-13	98
2013-14	111
2014-15	122
2015-16	134
2016-17	147
2017-18	162
2018-19	163
2019-20	145

All-Time Academic All-Americans