HOUSTON- The Texas Southern University Department of Athletics is proud to announce that for the first time since the inception of APR all of TSU’s athletic teams boast scores that either meet or exceed current NCAA APR standards. The NCAA will release APR scores for the 2011-12 academic year in May of 2013. An in depth look into the departments’ projected APR scores reveals that 14 of the 16 athletic teams at the University will have scores that exceed 930 highlighted by 13 teams that will have scores in excess of 950.
Since the 2008-09 academic year Texas Southern University has gradually seen scores for all 16 sponsored sports improve significantly. Overall the program has a combined score of 958 which is over a 120 point increase from the departments’ score of 834 in 2008-09.
“We’re are definitely ahead of schedule as it relates to where we thought we would be with our APR scores at this point,” said TSU Senior Associate Athletic Director Michael Moleta. “Every member of our athletics department here at TSU that works with student-athletes on the academic side has truly bought into what we’re trying to accomplish. We have a tremendous staff and one of things that we continually emphasize throughout the process is providing our student-athletes with a high level customer service and genuine care.”
Over the course of the past several years Texas Southern University has reached unprecedented heights as it relates to improving its Athletics Departments’ APR scores. This summer the TSU football program was recognized for the highest APR score improvement for the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
“We’ve made a lot of significant strides over the past several years as it relates to improving our teams’ APR scores,” said TSU Assistant Athletic Director Adeanah Pooler. “As a staff we try to do everything we can to ensure that our student-athletes succeed academically.”
In addition to the APR score improvements made over the past three years Texas Southern has also begun to see an influx of student-athletes graduating. To get a full grasp of the significant graduation strides made at TSU one has to look no further than the Tigers football program.
During the past three years TSU saw three members of the football program finish with their respective degrees. This past academic year a total of 22 TSU football student-athletes saw themselves walking across the stage with degrees in hand.
Texas Southern’s Academics and Compliance team consist of Senior Associate AD Michael Moleta, Assistant AD Adeanah Pooler, Director of Compliance Jaunelle White, Academic Certifying Officer Jacob Greer, Compliance Officer Larry Woods as well as Academic Advisors Narleski Wyrick, Kimberly Evans, and Kirsten Pitts.
“We couldn’t be prouder of the things we’ve accomplished here up to this point,” said Moleta. “TSU President Dr. John Rudley and Director of Athletics Dr. Charles McClelland have given us the tools and resources we need to take the program to where it is now. Their steadfast commitment to improving our academic standing has been instrumental throughout this process. Every student-athlete that joins the program now and in the future has a chance to achieve great things both inside the classroom and on their various fields of play.”
