FAMU awarded $675,000, multi-year NCAA Academic grant

Christina-Robbs-graduateFAMU awarded $675,000, multi-year NCAA Academic grant

Funding Will Support Initiatives to Help Student Success, Graduation, and Retention

FAMU President Elmira Mangum congratulates former softball player Christina Robbs, who recently received her bachelor’s degree in sociology.

     TALLAHASSEE, FL. – Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) was one of nine NCAA Division I schools awarded more than $4 million in grants to support academic programs that help student-athletes earn their degrees.

FAMU was selected from among a competitive group of athletic departments to receive a multi-year Accelerating Academic Success Program Comprehensive Grant valued at $675,000. The comprehensive grant will be distributed over three years and used to fund academic initiatives that increase academic support services, staff, and tutors; enhance summer academic programs; and assist current exhausted eligibility student-athletes with completing their degrees.

“FAMU is committed to the academic success of our student-athletes,” said President Elmira Mangum, Ph.D. “Pursuing and receiving this grant is demonstrative of our resolve to achieve success in the classroom, which we believe will contribute to success on the field. I applaud the Department of Athletics for leading this effort.”

Incoming Athletic Director Milton Overton explained that receiving the grant was a great example of how the University’s units are collaborating to ensure the success of our student-athletes. The proposal team consisted of Interim Athletic Director E. D’Wayne Robinson, Associate Athletic Director for External Affairs Angela Suggs, Assistant Director for Access & Athletic Academic Support Joycelyn Ellenwood, Director of the Office of University Assessment Mark Howse, Ph.D., and Faculty Athletic Representative Ebenezer Oriaku, Ph.D.

“We are looking forward to putting the resources to work as we build champions in the classroom, on the field, and in life,” he said. “The NCAA and the University have made a financial commitment to ensure our student-athletes have the resources that they need to be successful in the classroom, and I encourage everyone in the Rattler Community to join us in building champions on ‘the Hill’ through academic excellence and integrity.”

Overton also expressed gratitude for the collective efforts of President Mangum and the Board of Trustees Oversight Committee for committing the matching funds and personnel resources necessary toward preparing a well-received NCAA Accelerating Academic Success Program (AASP) Grant proposal. He announced his personal contribution of $5,000 to the Academic Enhancement Success Fund.

The grant will also help support the University’s efforts to meet the requirements of the Division I Academic Performance Program, which was developed to ensure schools provide an environment that supports education while enhancing the ability of student-athletes to earn a degree. Other athletic programs benefiting from the grant include:

  • The Enhanced Academic Support Staff/Monitoring Program, which is designed to increase the overall support structure around student-athletes, including administrative leadership, tutors, assistance with certification and eligibility, and additional services for at-risk, student-athletes.
  • The Rattler Summer Institute, which serves as an enhancement to the University’s Access Summer Bridge Program and provides weekly academic support programming for incoming freshmen and transfer student-athletes.
  • Ready to STRIKE, a fifth-year exhausted eligibility degree completion initiative designed to assist student-athletes through financial and programmatic support.

Participating schools can request a maximum of $300,000 per year for three years from the NCAA Accelerating Academic Success Program. The awardees are required to match grant dollars each year of the program, with either direct funds and/or in-kind contributions. In the first year, the school must commit a 25 percent match, 50 percent in year two, and 75 percent in year three.

The announced awards mark the third round of Accelerating Academic Success Program funding distributed by the NCAA.

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Carma Lynn Henry Westside Gazette Newspaper 545 N.W. 7th Terrace, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33311 Office: (954) 525-1489 Fax: (954) 525-1861

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