UNM is conducting its second self-study of the Athletics Department for NCAA certification. The first was done in 1997.
Some areas of the department needed improvement, according to the 1997 study. Areas needing attention were academics and gender equity.
The 1997 study called for the Athletics Department to reduce men's Olympic sports by 2005 to "achieve the goal of equity in participation" in women's sports.
Janice Ruggiero, associate athletic director, said this was done in January of 1999.
She said all men's Olympic sports were eliminated, including wrestling, men's gymnastics and men's swimming. She said the athletes participating in those sports were not left out in the cold.
"We kept all their scholarships," she said. "They could either transfer and not be penalized under NCAA transfer rules, or we kept their scholarships for four years."
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Ruggiero said since the 1997 self-study, all of UNM's women's sports have been fully funded, meaning they all receive the maximum amount of scholarship money. She said the men's track team is the only UNM sport that is not fully funded.
"That sport does not have full scholarships," she said. "That's just the way it's set up."
Regarding academics, the 1997 study called for more resources for student-athletes.
Danny Trujillo, manager of academic advisement in the Athletics Department, said the department created a computer pod for athletes in Johnson Center five years ago.
He also said the average GPA of student athletes has increased since 1997.
"We have had four semesters in a row of 3.0 GPAs and above," he said.
Ruggiero said since 1997, there has been an increase in recruiting for women and expansion in the athlete mentoring program.
She said the self-study process is comprehensive and said she feels the self-study being conducted this year will be a success.
"It's a very thorough process," she said. "I think we've done a good job. It's like anything else. People make plans for the future and just hope they go well."
Funding for women's sports has increased since 1993, according to the 1997 study. Women's soccer increased from $116,469 to $176,290, - about a 51 percent increase.
Bill Richards, associate director for business operations in the Athletics Department, said the numbers have further increased since 1997.
Exact figures weren't immediately available.
The 1997 report also called for women student-athletes to be in direct proportion to the number of women undergraduate students at UNM.
Richards said the last survey he conducted showed 52 percent of UNM students were female, and he didn't think the athletes were in proportion.
"I don't believe the number of women athletes compares to men," he said.
The study also stated, "UNM's allocation of resources to women's sports programs will be on par with men's sports programs" by the 1998-1999 fiscal year.
Richards said he didn't know what the term "on par" means, but he didn't think the program achieved that goal.
"I just don't think we can ever achieve that," he said. "We are not on that level right now."
