Dr. Charles McAdams (right), provost and vice president of Academic Affairs, recently presented the inaugural Provost Award for Academic Excellence to Joel Salazar of the International Student Organization.Delta State University’s Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Charles McAdams, has introduced an exciting new award called the “Provost Award for Academic Excellence.”
The goal of the award is to motivate student organizations to raise academic achievement. Two awards will be given at the beginning of each spring semester based on fall semester academic performance.
The first award is for $1,000 and is granted to the officially recognized student organization with the highest group average GPA for the fall semester.
The second award, also for $1,000, is granted to the officially recognized student organization with the most improved group average GPA from one fall to the next.
Announced by McAdams for the first time on Wednesday, just one group received inaugural recognition and the $1,000 prize. The first winner is the International Student Organization.
“I am pleased that the Provost Award for Academic Excellence can motivate, recognize and reward student organizations that make academic excellence a priority,” said McAdams.
“Participating in student organizations is crucial to help students build connections on campus and have important co-curricular experiences,” he added. “At the same time, it is my hope that this award will motivate student organizations to encourage their members to excel in their classes.”
Each student organization is encouraged to form study groups and tutoring sessions, or attend sessions in the Student Success Center in order to achieve the highest grades possible.
The program is open to any officially recognized Delta State student organization, as certified by the Office of Student Affairs, with over 25 active members. Honor societies are not eligible, and no single student organization can win both awards in the same semester.
GPA is measured as the simple average of the grade point average of all active members at the conclusion of the fall semester and verified by the registrar.
An active member is defined as a student who completes the fall semester by earning 12 or more semester hours. At least 25 members must complete 12 hours or more.
The second award will measure the amount of improvement in one fall semester GPA versus the next fall semester using the academic performance of the exact same students. This award requires a comparison cohort of 25 students.
Student Organizations must complete a submission form listing all current active members and identification numbers to the provost to compete for the award.
For more information, contact the Office of the Provost at 662-846-4010.
