2013 WAC Softball Media Guide - Western Athletic Conference

WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE • WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE • WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE • WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE • WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCEWAC PLAY UPAcademic: The University of Texas at Arlington sets the standard for educational excellence in the thrivingDallas-Fort Worth area and beyond. Through life-enhancing research, innovative teaching, and communityservice, UT Arlington Mavericks challenge convention and transform the world in which they live. Of UTArlington’s 150,000 alumni, approximately 100,000 live in North Texas. Their presence helps the Universitycreate an annual economic impact of more than $1 billion in the region. UT Arlington’s pioneering researchershelp solve today’s most complex problems and create viable products and services that strengthen theeconomy. Research activity continues to grow dramatically, vastly expanding our capacity to advance thehuman condition and make lasting imprints on the world. Recognized as teaching innovators, UT Arlington’sfaculty members embrace new approaches and devise imaginative ways to increase the curriculum’s relevancy.These accomplished scholars foster an active learning environment so students can better understand theworld around them and become thoughtful citizens of the global community. With new structures continuallyrising from the landscape, UT Arlington’s physical campus is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Theseambitious projects represent literal signs of growth for a university steadily increasing in national prominence.UT ARLINGTONLocation: Arlington, TexasNickname: MavericksJoined WAC: 2012Athletic: UT Arlington has been known as an athletic program that excels on the field and in the classroom.UTA has won 55 conference championships since the start of the 1996-97 academic year includingmen’s basketball and baseball this past season. This past spring, 83 Mavericks were named to the SouthlandConference Commissioner’s Honor Roll. The Mavericks men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball teamsare now housed in the university’s $78 million College Park Center. The 7,000-seat arena opened in Februaryof 2012.MEN’S SPORTS: Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Golf, Tennis, Indoor and Outdoor Track and FieldWOMEN’S SPORTS: Basketball, Cross Country, Tennis, Softball, Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field, VolleyballUTSALocation: San Antonio, TexasNickname: RoadrunnersJoined WAC: 2012Academic: Founded in 1969 by the Texas Legislature to be a “university of the first class,” UTSA is anintellectual and creative resource center and socioeconomic development catalyst for Texas and beyond.With nearly 31,000 students enrolled in more than 135 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programsin the Colleges of Architecture, Business, Education & Human Development, Engineering, Honors,Liberal & Fine Arts, Public Policy, Sciences and Graduate School, it is one of the largest of nine academicuniversities and six health institutions in the University of Texas System. One of the state’s fastest-growingpublic universities for much of the last decade, UTSA is a multicultural institution of access and excellenceand it aims to be a national research university that provides access to educational excellence andprepares citizen leaders for the global environment. More than half of UTSA’s students come from groupsunderrepresented in higher education. Many students are the first in their families to attend a college oruniversity. As the region’s largest generator of engineers, artists, business professionals, teachers, scientistsand technology managers, UTSA has produced more than 90,000 graduates since awarding its firstdegree in 1974. UTSA has more than 1,400 tenured, tenure-track and non-tenure faculty, and 98 percentof full-time faculty hold doctorates or equivalent terminal degrees. UTSA has a total of 39 endowed academicpositions, a measure of academic excellence. They include 14 distinguished chairs, eight chairs, sixdistinguished professorships, 12 professorships and one faculty fellowship. In addition to the educationaladvantages UTSA offers, its economic impact directly and indirectly generates more than $1.2 billion inannual business revenues and supports an estimated 15,700 jobs in the San Antonio metropolitan statisticalarea.Athletic: UTSA won a school-record five conference championships (men’s basketball, women’s golf,soccer, men’s indoor track and field and volleyball) during the 2010-11 season to earn the Southland ConferenceCommissioner’s Cup and the men’s basketball team won its first-ever NCAA Tournament gamewith a first-round victory against Alabama State. The Roadrunners went on to win four Southland titles intheir final year as a member institution in 2011-12. A school-record 130 student-athletes were named tothe Southland Conference Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll in 2010-11 and that was followed by 129honorees this past academic year.MEN’S SPORTS: Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Tennis, Indoor and Outdoor Track and FieldWOMEN’S SPORTS: Basketball, Cross Country, Golf, Soccer, Softball, Tennis, Indoor and Outdoor Trackand Field, Volleyball62013 WAC Softball Media Guide