NORFOLK, Va. – The Football Championship Subdivision Athletics Directors Association (FCS ADA) announced that Norfolk State University will receive the Academic Progress Rate Award for the MEAC for the third consecutive year. The award recognizes the school which tallied the highest multi-year football APR score in each of the 14 FCS conferences following the 2010-11 APR reporting period.

Previously, the National Collegiate Athletic Association member colleges and universities adopted a comprehensive academic reform package designed to improve the academic success and graduation of all student-athletes. The centerpiece of the package is the academic measurement for teams, known as the APR. The APR is a formula which measures athlete retention and eligibility. A score of 925 equates to a 50 percent graduation rate.

The NSU football team had four-year rate of 937 for the period beginning with the 2007-08 school year and ending with the 2010-11 year. The APR winners of each conference will receive their awards at a luncheon on Monday, June 25 in conjunction with the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Convention in Dallas, Texas.

Norfolk State and Davidson of the Pioneer League are the only two schools to earn their conference's APR award for the last three years. NSU tied Alabama A&M, which also had a 937 score, for the highest APR among Division I HBCUs. The Spartan football program led all D-I HBCUs the previous two seasons.

“I am very pleased that our football student-athletes performed at a high level academically to earn this award for the third straight year,” NSU Athletics Director Marty L. Miller said. “This award reflects the results of the hard work of the staff, coaches and academic enhancement counselors in meeting the standards established for the student-athletes at Norfolk State University. We also realize that this is an ongoing task that we must continue to address because of the challenges that confront our student-athletes each and every year.”