Your Impact
We are pleased to recognize gifts of $100 or more to any Viking athletic team or scholarship with membership to the Viking Athletic Club. your gift makes a difference in the lives of more than 300 WWU student-athletes and enables our coaches to do what they do best-coach. Your gift transforms the student-athlete experience and makes their dreams possible. Through hard work, determination and donor support, Viking student-athletes do not let anything stand in their way on the road to victory.
Why We Need Your support
The University and the Athletic Department rely on gifts from generous donors like you to support life-changing scholarships, provide teams with essential training tools and equipment and give student-athletes the opportunity to compete at the highest levels. Your gift creates the margin of excellence needed to make the Viking experience complete.
Student-Athlete Success
In 2020-21, approximately 300 students were active members in the 15 varsity sports at WWU, 6 for men and 9 for women. WWU is in its 23rdyear as a member of NCAA Division II since joining the ranks in September 1998. While play has been limited in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2019-20 season was one of the best in history. Seven programs captured Great Northwest Athletic Conference titles, with all five teams during the fall sports season advancing to the NCAA Division II Championships. The Women’s Soccer team played in the national title game, the volleyball team won its third straight GNAC title, both cross country teams advanced to nationals, men’s soccer team played in its second NCAA Tournament and the men’s basketball squad won the GNAC Tournament.
Excellence in the Classroom
WWU Athletics has enjoyed success not only in competition, but also in the classroom. In three of the last four years, Western has earned the Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence, awarded to schools having an Academic Success Rate of 90 percent or higher in the latest NCAA Graduation Rate report. With an Academic Success Rate of 90% in 2019-20, WWU was one of only six public institutions out of 42 NCAA II schools to earn the prestigious NCAA award. The Vikings earned a record 111 GNAC All-Academic awards in 2019-20 with a combined department GPA of 3.29 (14 of 15 programs recorded at least a 3.00 team GPA).
Excellence in Competition
Following the fall sports season in 2019-20, WWU held the No. 2 ranking in the first edition of the Learfield Directors' Cup NCAA Division II standings. WWU has finished in the top 50 in the Directors’ Cup standings in 15 of the last 16 seasons, including an 11th-place finish in 2016-17. WWU has also placed in the top 20 in eight of the last 12 years, including 26thin 2015-16, 36thin 2014-15 and 20thin 2013-14, and has been among the top 100 in each of its 21 seasons as an NCAA II member. WWU has won 11 team national titles, including the 2016 Women’s Soccer and 2017 Women’s Rowing national titles.