UTM students seem to be hitting the books more these days.

Grades released by the Office of Greek Life show academic improvements in the all male average, all female average, and the all greek average for both fraternities and sororities.

Sigma Chi placed first among the fraternities this semester and Chi Omega placed first among the sororities. Finishing in second place this semester for the fraternities was Sigma Phi Epsilon, and Alpha Delta Pi finished second among the sororities.

Sigma Chi President Adam Francis says grades increased for his chapter because of a program implemented by Scholarship Chairman Michael Nelson that focused on academic performance.

“It is the personalized dynamic of this system which has encouraged us, both as individuals and as a group, to raise ouor academic standard,” Francis says.

Among the 16 athletic teams at UTM, nine of the teams had GPAs that were a 3.0 or higher.

The men’s cross country team and the women’s volleyball team performed the highest among the athletic teams.

“These results serve as evidence of the emphasis placed on academic success by our coaches and athletics staff,” Dr. Nell Gullett, UTM’s faculty athletic representative said.

Both greeks and athletes performed higher than the all-male grade GPA of 2.78 when looking at averages in each category. Athletes and sorority members performed higher than the all-female average GPA of 2.95.