Helping to make the grade

Robert Henry Becker Arizona Daily Wildcat UA redshirted linebacker, Marcus Bell, studies with tutor Claire Lamb during a Strategic Study Program session in the basement of McKale Center yesterday. Lamb is one of seven tutors working for Kathleen Gabriel, Assistant Director of Academics for Athletes, who created this program.

A record number of student athletes received Mary Roby Academic Achievement Awards by earning a 3.0 grade point average or better during last fall and spring semesters.

The 140 recipients UA recorded rose eight percent, said Mike Fisher, the director of academics for athletes.

At-risk student athletes, those who come to the university with a deprived background, are making strides as well under Kathleen Gabriel's Strategic Study Program.

Gabriel, the assistant director of academics for athletes, created the program when she came to Arizona in 1992 to help the graduation rate while assisting athletes who are at educational disadvantages.

"A lot of the students I have do come from areas of overcrowded or economically deprived areas where they just didn't get the same preparations that you would have gotten at Salpointe (a private Tucson high school)," said Gabriel, who received a doctorate in special education from Kansas. "All of the sudden they are here and on the same playing ground as kids who came out of (better) schools and they've got to compete against them."

Gabriel was highly regarded by Fisher, who learned about her in 1989 from an article he read about her while he was in Kansas serving in the army.

"I made up my mind that when I got back into athletics, I would get her to work with me," he said.

Fisher was hired by UA in late 1991 and contacted Gabriel, who was teaching high school in Chico, Calif.

Gabriel visited Arizona in the spring of 1992 to give a speech on tutor techniques that persuaded some of UA's coaches, including Dick Tomey, the head football coach and Jim Rosborough, a men's assistant basketball coach.

"(The lecture) just really impressed me," Tomey said. "She's done a terrific job helping a lot of young people. Her program has proved itself over the years with many, many people."

Gabriel, who has a staff of seven tutors who are graduate students interested in education careers assisting her, was hired to begin her program a few months after giving her speech.

One of the prime beneficiaries of Gabriel's program is Joe Salave'a, a senior defensive tackle.

The Samoa native entered UA as a partial qualifier because of his academic deficiencies.

Salave'a said Gabriel was one of the main reasons he was able to succeed in school and will be on the football field next fall.

"Kathleen has more to do with it than any person I know," he said of the extra year of eligibility the NCAA granted him. "I'm really fortunate (because) this program brought a new light into studying for me."

In addition to monitoring her student's progress in classes, Gabriel's 6-days-a-week job includes doing routine class checks on the 28 student athletes she oversees and conducting numerous sessions on everything from different study skills to how to read a course catalog.

"The quality that is really distinguishing is her tremendous devotion to her students. She cares about young people and is willing to work extra long hours," Fisher said. "She has the ability to motivate and is part drill instructor."

Gabriel said she rewards athletes who stick with her program for an a year with a T-shirt that says, "I survived Kathleen's strategic study program."

The student athletes in her program joke about the strict demeanour in which she conducts herself.

James Lewis, a redshirt freshman, jokingly called Gabriel, "the warden," but sophomore Marcus Bell, a linebacker, said the students respect her in the long run.

"She's helped ease the transitions and break things down," Bell said. "If she wasn't around, I'd probably go home and sleep after class."

UA's graduation rate for student athletes reached its all-time high of 64 percent. The figure, which was recorded by the NCAA, tracked student's progress for six years. The current rate includes athletes from fall of 1990 until the conclusion of the 1996 summer session.

Figures tracking the rate when Gabriel first began her program in 1992 are not available for two more years.

Fisher said he is confident that rate will rise, showing that the at-risk students, in addition to the Roby winner's achievements, translate into departmental success.