Hartford Hawks
The Hartford Hawks are the NCAA Division I athletic teams of the University of Hartford, located in West Hartford, Connecticut. A member of the America East Conference, Hartford sponsors teams in eight men's and nine women's NCAA sanctioned sports with the men's golf team competing as an affiliate member of the Big Sky Conference, and the women's golf team as an associate member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The men's and women's tennis teams were discontinued at the end of the 2016 season, and women's lacrosse was added. On May  6, 2021, the University of Hartford Board of Regents voted to drop its athletic department to Division III. This plan will start with the university's formal application to the NCAA for reclassification in January 2022. Starting in 2022–23, Hartford would no longer award athletic scholarships to incoming students. In 2023–24, the school plans to become a provisional member of a D-III conference, and transition all remaining student-athletes off athletic aid by the end of that school year. Hartford would become a full D-III member on September 1, 2025. Academics. From Hartford's athletic website: "Hartford, which  has posted a combined GPA of 3.0 or higher in each of the last 15 semesters, saw an average of 70 percent of its student-athletes record a 3.0 in one or both semesters last year. In addition, 43 percent of Hawk student-athletes notched at least a 3.5 while five percent registered perfect 4.0 GPA's for the 2012–13 academic year." "The University of Hartford clinched its second-straight America East Academic Cup in 2012–13 after posting the highest grade-point average of any school in the 18-year history of the award. Compiling a 3.24 GPA in 2012–13 , the Hawks won their third Academic Cup all-time." Mascot and nickname. From Hartford's athletic website: "Howie is well known among the University of Hartford community and fans, and has been known for his on court antics during basketball games. The current version of Howie the Hawk began its tenure during the winter of 2008–09." "The nickname originated in the late 1940s when the school competed as Hillyer College. It is believed that the nickname stemmed from spectators having to climb four flights of stairs in the old Chauncey Harris School on Hudson Street in Hartford to the "Hawk 's Nest" to watch basketball and wrestling events."