Ball State University finished ninth of 115 Division colleges in The Gender Equity Scorecard V, which was created at Penn State York.
The study used participation, scholarship, operating budget, recruiting budget and coaching salaries to grade the universities' commitment to women's sports for the 2005-06 academic and athletics year.
Ball State finished ninth on the gender equity scorecard with a grade of A-. The university finished 13th the previous year.
Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Tom Collins said there is still room for gender equity at Ball State to improve.
"I think we have a great gender equity plan but we're not there yet," Collins said.
President Jo Ann Gora said the university has to do a better job of communicating with its staff members about the plan.
"Not everybody was aware of the gender equity plan," Gora said. "Sharing that will folks is important."
The University of North Texas took the top ranking in the survey with an A+, and the University of Nevada received the same mark.
Among Mid-American Conference schools, the University at Buffalo finished third overall with an A, while Eastern Michigan University finished sixth and Miami University finished eighth with an A-. The University of Toledo also received an A-.
The MAC had the most schools receive grades in the A range with five universities. Overall, the conference had the best score in the study. The MAC also was atop the rankings in 2002-03 and 2003-04.
Associate Athletics Director Karin Lee, who is now the supervisor of 14 teams as part of the department restructuring, said the department is doing positive things with gender equity but there are areas that can be improved.
"There is one thing about gender: it's not a one time thing," she said. "It's something you have to do and update continually."
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