February 2003

Academics and athletics

	First-year student Jenni Kincheloe balances studies in exercise biology with the demands of track and field.

First-year student Jenni Kincheloe knows why moms and dads of intercollegiate athletes may not hear from their students as often as other parents. A track-and-field competitor, she explains, "My day goes from 9 in the morning until 5 and that's just school and practice. Then I come home and do homework. It doesn't leave much free time, but it's worth it."

Because UC Davis puts student before athlete, balancing academics and athletics can be a challenge for the campus's 800 intercollegiate athletes competing in 25 sports. But help comes to student-athletes from several directions.

Coaches at UC Davis also serve as lecturers, so they understand academic rigor, including a student's need to skip practice on occasion to prepare for a test.

In its office of Student-Athlete Guidance Services, UC Davis also has two academic advisers, Michelle Roppeau and Mitch Campbell, who work with student-athletes not only on immediate issues, like workload during competition season, but also on long-term goals, such as graduate school.

These advisers help students figure out how to meet academic and league eligibility requirements. And if the student wants to do something unusual -- like perform community service in Fiji, a goal of a women's basketball team member -- they support that too.

"We're really here to help our students meet their personal goals, academic as well as athletic," explains Michelle Roppeau, who is trained as a counseling psychologist.

"We have a lot of people who work with us from an early stage and are able to do more than they expected," Roppeau says.

As of December, student-athletes were enrolled in 90 different majors, with some working toward double majors or multiple minors. And over the last three quarters, 32 percent of male athletes and 59 percent of female athletes earned a grade point average above 3.0 and a place on the athletic honor roll.

Additional services also help student-athletes stay the course. A dedicated study hall awaits in the library. And an educational group called Peer Counselors in Athletics presents workshops on topics like nutrition, alcohol and steroids.

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