By Micaela Myers
The term “student-athlete” says it all—a balancing act, a student on the one hand,
an athlete on the other, taking on two demanding roles. While all student-athletes
share this challenge, many University of Wyoming student-athletes take it to a whole
new level, choosing challenging majors, maintaining outstanding GPAs and garnering
accolades along the way.
“Nationally, you’ll often see a clustering of majors for many student-athletes, such as interdisciplinary studies. Here we have high-caliber academic students who are seeking the majors they want,” says Phil Wille, associate athletic director for internal operations. “It sets us apart and speaks to the ‘cowboy tough’ ethic because a lot of students will tough it out in an engineering, science or pharmacy major, for example. Those are high-level programs, and it takes a lot of effort to balance that.”
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One of those students is senior Stuart Williams of Nederland, Colo., starting placekicker for the Cowboys, who graduates May 2015 with degrees in both architectural and civil engineering after finishing his final Cowboy season in 2014. Williams maintains an impressive GPA and was a national candidate for the 2014 National Football Foundation’s William V. Campbell Award, also referred to as the “Academic Heisman.”
“The faculty members have been outstanding,” Williams says. “If I was on the road for a game, they’d give me options for when I could take the test. I had one teacher meet with me for my final at 3 a.m.—that shows the dedication of our faculty to our student-athletes.”
UW Athletics also offers a full spectrum of support for the 350 to 400 student-athletes the department serves each year, including academic coordinators who help students with scheduling and NCAA rules, mentors, tutors, a nutritionist, and a performance and sports medicine staff, as well as workshops on life and career issues.
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