Six University of Tennessee student-athletes were among those honored with Academic Excellence Awards during the annual 1A FAR meeting in Grapevine, Texas, Sept. 23-24. The 1A FAR is an organization of faculty athletics representatives from NCAA Division I FBS institution that seeks to advocate for effective interaction and academic and fiscal balance between an institution’s academic mission and its intercollegiate athletics program.
The Vols and Lady Vols recognized for their academic achievement include four representatives from Tennessee’s track and field program, as well as one representative each from UT’s men’s and women’s basketball programs. All six have completed their degree requirements.
Tennessee’s track honorees were Chelsea Knotts, Chanelle Price, Elizabeth Tiller and Ellen Wortham. From basketball, Lady Vols guard Taber Spani was honored along with Vols guard Tyler Summitt.
“Achieving this level of academic excellence while also leading the demanding life of a student-athlete requires a great deal of maturity, dedication and hard work,” said University of Tennessee Faculty Athletics Representative Dr. Donald Bruce,” I am extremely proud of these six individuals and congratulate them on receiving this honor.”
Academic Excellence Award recipients must have graduated during the past academic year (2011-12) with a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.80, and they must have participated in at least two years of intercollegiate athletics at an FBS institution, in a sport sponsored by an FBS conference. Spani is the lone UT honoree with remaining athletic eligibility (she will be a senior in 2012-13).
(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)
Tennessee has now produced 13 1A FAR Academic Excellence Award recipients in the past two years, as seven UT student-athletes were honored at last year’s inaugural event.
The faculty athletics representative is a designation created and mandated by the NCAA. FARs must be members of an institution’s faculty and may not hold an administrative or coaching position in the athletics department. Duties vary by institution, but typically a FAR serves as a liaison to the athletics department. The 1A FAR is an advocate for the appropriate balance and effective interaction between an institution's academic mission and its intercollegiate athletics program.
All FARs who serve at NCAA Division IA institutions are members of 1A FAR.