ARLINGTON, Texas – For the third straight year Utah Valley University claimed at least a share of the WAC Academic Excellence Award, sharing the 2022-23 honor with Abilene Christian University. The award recognizes exemplary performance in the classroom by conference members during the academic year.
 
The award is determined by a point system and presented to the institution(s) that performs the best in the following areas: the average grade-point average (GPA) for each undergraduate student-athlete, the average GPA of each undergraduate student body compared to the average GPA of an institution's student-athletes and the most recent two-year average of institutional Academic Progress Rate scores.
 
Abilene Christian earned the WAC Academic Excellence Award for the first time after posting a cumulative 3.35 GPA among all student-athletes across 16 sports. The average GPA of student-athletes was 0.10 points higher than that of the general undergraduate student body at Abilene Christian. The Wildcats registered an average APR score of 991.5 for the past two reported academic years.
 
Utah Valley picked up a piece of a third straight consecutive excellence award after boasting a cumulative 3.36 department GPA across 16 varsity sports. Utah Valley student-athletes registered a GPA that was 0.11 points above the university's overall undergraduate average. The Wolverines have posted an average APR of 986 over the past two reported academic years.
 
WAC Academic Excellence Award Winners:
2022-23 – Abilene Christian and Utah Valley
2021-22 – Utah Valley
2020-21 – Seattle U and Utah Valley
2019-20 – Seattle U
2018-19 – Grand Canyon
2017-18 – Grand Canyon
2016-17 – Kansas City