10 for 10: No. 7 - Academic Excellence

When it comes to the term “student-athlete,” at the University of Calgary, the student part really does come first. Over the past decade, the Dinos athletic program has seen GPA increases in a number of different departments, a record-setting number of Academic All-Canadians in 2016-17 with 150, and an increase in student-athlete scholarship funds. 

The Dinos have always put academic success at the forefront, with 2,399 student-athletes named to the Academic All-Canadian team since 1990. However, the past decade has seen record academic success for the program – with 1,119 of those honours coming in the 2010s. 

One of the main reasons for these new highs was the establishment of the Dinos Grade Point Success Program (Dinos GPS), an academic support system specifically for student-athletes. Going into the 2014-15 academic year, provost and vice president (academic) Dr. Dru Marshall announced the creation of the program, along with a substantial increase to financial aid for student-athletes. The Grade Point Success Program involved the hiring of a full-time academic sup-port team, athlete-specific workshops, ongoing one-on-one academic development coaching, and much more. Dina Taher currently heads the Dinos GPS team, with Deidre Mooney and Mariann Howell also on the team as academic coaches specifically for Dinos athletes.  
   
Along with setting the all-time program record for Academic All-Canadians in 2016-17, this decade also brought four out of the seven Top 8 Academic All-Canadians in Dinos history. Each year, one standout Academic All-Canadian female and one male from each U SPORTS conference are selected to receive the Top 8 honour by the current Governor-General of Canada in Ottawa. Hayley Wickenheiser was honoured with the award twice in 2010-11 and 2011-12, Andrew Buckley in 2014-15, and Kate Pexman in 2017-18. 
 

A Dino was also named a Rhodes Scholar. Established in 1902 and one of the most prestigious student awards in the world, the honour went to Dinos swimmer Bogdan Knezevic in 2014, for his outstanding performance in both the neuroscience program and the pool. 

With the commitment to their athletes both in and out of the classroom, the University of Calgary Dinos continues to differentiate themselves for potential recruits, as well as develop their athletes to succeed both now and in the future.