Student-Athlete Development

West Virginia University offers a variety of services and programs to help student-athletes maximize their academic potential. Department staff members work with coaches, on-campus student service providers and faculty to help student-athletes meet the unique demands of the classroom, the supporting arena and the personal-social challenges they face as developing adults. While many of the headlines center around the Mountaineers’ accomplishments on the playing field, West Virginia studentathletes also have made some noteworthy strides in the classroom. Some of the accolades include 16 consecutive years where the department has had at least one first team Academic All-American.

To help its student-athletes achieve academic success, one of the nation’s finest facilities resides in the WVU Coliseum – the Athletic Academic Performance Center. The 8,000-square foot facility provides individual and group study areas, a plethora of computer stations and the latest in fingerprint technology used when signing in. A total of 341 student-athletes were represented on the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll in spring 2021, of which 90 of them registered a 4.0 GPA. Additionally, 14 student-athletes were named recipients of the Dr. Gerald Large Academic Achievement Award, the Big 12 Conference’s highest academic honor. More than 500 student-athletes were honored on WVU’s Garrett Ford Academic Honor Roll last year. Implemented in 1989, the Garrett Ford Academic Honor Roll was created to recognize students who have achieved a grade point average of 3.0 or better. Since the program began in 1989, over 4,000 student-athletes have earned a place on the honor roll. Ford retired in 2011 after 44 years of service with the WVU Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. Ten Academic All-Big 12 Cross Country First Team Antigone Archer, Bree Warren and Marianne Abdalah,

Hayley Jackson, Charlotte Wood, Katherine Dowie, Samantha Hatcher, Hannah Lipps, Mikenna Vanderheyden and Ceili McCabe