Athletic program rated among nation's top 20

courtesy of Brownbears.com

Brown’s athletics program has been named to the College Sports Honor Roll as one of the nation's top 20 athletic programs by U.S. News and World Report.

"Brown Athletics is extremely proud of being one of only 20 Division I institutions selected as one of the top programs in the country," said David Roach, who has overseen the program since becoming athletic director in 1990. "This honor is a tribute to our coaches, staff and student-athletes. It is something we all can take special pride in because it takes a team effort to achieve such stature."

Brown has one of the nation's most wide-ranging athletic programs for men and women, sponsoring 37 varsity intercollegiate sport team. In fact, Brown's 37 teams rank third among all Division I colleges and universities. Brown athletes and teams compete at the highest level of NCAA Division I competition, and are regular participants in NCAA Championships.

Last year, Brown teams captured four Ivy League or Heptagonal Championships, earned one Eastern title, qualified for four NCAA Championships, and ranked 62 out of 320 Division I teams in the Sears Director's Cup standings. Individually, the Bears athletic program had an Ivy League Player of the Year, a national individual champion, an Ivy League Rookie of the Year, Rhode Island's Male and Female Athletes of the Year, two Heptagonal Champions, six First Team All-Americans, and 14 NCAA individual qualifiers.

The athletics department has also been recognized for its community involvement, especially in working with the Vartan Gregorian Elementary School, the Fox Point Boys' and Girls' Club, and the Special Olympics of Rhode Island.

"The criteria for this ranking goes to the heart of the Sports Foundation's mission – that you can strive for and achieve athletic excellence on a national scale without wavering from Brown's commitment to the highest academic standards," said Ron Dalgliesh, executive director of the Brown University Sports Foundation.

Brown’s is one of 20 college programs nationally to receive a superior ranking in four categories: athletes' graduation rates, number of sports programs offered, gender equity, and win/loss records.

The other institutions on the honor roll, published in the March 18 edition of the magazine, are Boston College, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, Lehigh University, Pennsylvania State University, Princeton University, Stanford University, University of Connecticut-Storrs, University of Hawaii-Manoa, University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, University of Maryland-College Park, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of New Hampshire, Durham, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, and Villanova University.