May 15, 2008

The NCAA has selected the UTEP Athletics Department as one of only 12 schools in the nation to receive the Diversity in Athletics Award in the category of Overall Excellence in Diversity. The distinction for UTEP affirms its role as a leader for diversity.

The prestigious award will be presented June 11 in Dallas, site of the 2008 National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Convention.

"It is a great honor to receive such a prestigious award," UTEP Director of Athletics Bob Stull said. "This is an area we work very hard on, both in athletics and on campus as a whole, and to be recognized by the NCAA for it is quite rewarding."

Making the honor even more impressive for UTEP is the way in which winners were chosen. The process included surveys being mailed to the top six administrators at each Division I and Division II, which polled the individuals on a variety of topics. To ensure the integrity of the process, only schools with two or more respondents were included.

The data was processed by independent research conducted by the Laboratory for Diversity in Sport at Texas A&M. Schools distinguished were those that achieved the highest total combined scores in numerous categories, which included the gender and racial diversity of departmental employees and graduation of African-American female and male student-athletes.