For successful athletes, academics and sports merge

By Dave Geringer and Jamie Schanback, Department of Athletics and Recreation
March 2005

Go directly to student-athlete profiles

Some come from Alaska. Some come from other nations. But they've all come to the University of Alaska Fairbanks to earn a degree and play their sport as well as they can.

UAF has 100 athletes competing on 10 teams (hockey, men's and women's basketball, volleyball, men's and women's cross country running, men's and women's skiing and men's and women's rifle), with a 11th team, women's swimming, scheduled to go "live" next fall.

At an awards ceremony in January the Department of Athletics honored 59 student-athletes who earned a grade point average of 3.0 (B) or better. During the fall 2004 semester, 59 percent of UAF's student-athletes earned a GPA of 3.0 or better, and 15 earned a perfect 4.0. UAF's student-athletes are currently pursuing 29 different academic majors.

"It is an honor to be affiliated with coaches and student-athletes who value the dual role of student and athlete," said UAF Director of Athletics Cory Schwartz. "I am especially pleased to see that we are successful both athletically and academically."

UAF does have some very successful athletic teams. The student-athletes who make up those teams must deal with the demands of training for their sport and competing at the highest level while succeeding academically.

These six people exemplify student-athletes at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. They have learned how to succeed in their sports and academically, and now they’re showing others the way.

To learn more about these successful student-athletes, please choose from the names below:

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For more information, please contact:

• Dave Geringer, sports information director at dave.geringer@uaf.edu, or (907) 474-6807
• Jamie Schanback, sports information intern at fnjms4@uaf.edu, or (907) 474-6805

Useful links for more information:

UAF athletics

All UAF photos by Todd Paris unless otherwise noted.