BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – The NCAA released preliminary information from its annual Academic Progress Rate (APR) report on Wednesday and CSU Bakersfield Athletics enjoyed good news once again. The Roadrunners put together another standout year in the classroom and CSUB continued to see some of its programs ranked among the nation's best in academics.

For the last three years, the CSUB volleyball and beach volleyball teams have both earned a Public Recognition Award from the NCAA for finishing in the top-10 percent of APR scores for their respective sports. Recording perfect APR scores of 1000 once again, the `Runner volleyball programs have become Bakersfield's only teams to accomplish these two feats in three consecutive years.

"I am very proud to hear that our volleyball teams have once again placed CSU Bakersfield among some of the nation's best academic programs," said Kenneth "Ziggy" Siegfried, CSUB's Director of Athletics. "Giovana Melo and her staff have made Academic Excellence a priority and it is clear that her student-athletes have bought into her vision in the classroom as much as they have on the court."

Siegfried went on to credit several groups for emphasizing academic success: "We continue to see our student-athletes go on to do great things thanks to, in large part, a collaborative undertaking campus wide. The great support they receive from our campus and athletics staff and the support of donors and the NCAA AASP program have made a huge difference. I know that the lives of our student-athletes have been changed forever because of the educations they are receiving."

CSUB continues to thrive thanks to the benefits of the Accelerated Academic Success Program grant, which was awarded in the summer of 2014. As a result, Bakersfield has been able to hire additional academic support staff, advisors, and tutors for student-athletes and opened the new Kegley Center for Student Success.

The Kegley Center, which was relocated from a nearby smaller space, now includes over 7,000 square-feet of study and tutoring areas, computer labs, and academic support resources for CSUB student-athletes. The facility was funded by both the grant and the philanthropy of CSUB professor of philosophy and former faculty athletics representative Dr. Jacquelyn Kegley.

Every Division I sports team across the nation calculates its Academic Progress Rate each academic year, like a report card. Scholarship student-athletes each semester earn one point for remaining eligible and one point for staying in school or graduating. The full details of the NCAA's annual APR report are expected to be released next Wednesday.

Information from a press release by NCAA.com was used in this report.