Penn State Intercom......February 14, 2002

Student-athletes with
3.0 GPA hit record level

A summary of academic performance for the 2001 fall semester has revealed that almost 400 University Park student-athletes posted a grade point average of 3.0 or higher, Director of Athletics Tim Curley reported.

For the semester just concluded, a record total of 386 student-athletes had a GPA of 3.0 or above, which is 53.5 percent of the 714 young men and women who are actively participating in the University's 29 varsity sports, according to Diana Kenepp, director of the Morgan Academic Support Center for Student-Athletes.

The percentage also was a record. There are approximately 800 University student-athletes, including those who are medically unable to participate or whose competitive eligibility has been exhausted but are working toward their degree.

Among the 386 student-athletes with a 3.0, 150 earned a 3.5 GPA or better to gain dean's list recognition. The 150 high achievers represent 20.8 percent of the University's active student-athletes.

The efforts of the Morgan Academic Support Center for Student-Athletes again was reflected in the latest NCAA graduation rate report, which showed that 75 percent of Lion student-athletes who began their careers in 1994-95 graduated within six years, well above the 58 percent national average.

The University's four-year graduation rate average for student-athletes was 77 percent, also considerably higher than the 58 percent national average.

Among Big Ten institutions, only Northwestern had a higher graduation rate than Penn State for student-athletes who began their careers in 1994-95 as well as for the four-year average.

Penn State has had 26 student-athletes earn Verizon All-America honors the past three years, including a record-tying nine in 2000-01, with eight and nine honorees the previous two years. A total of 92 Nittany Lion and Lady Lion student-athletes have earned Academic All-America honors, the third-highest total among all NCAA Division I-A programs. Fifty-three of those selections have come over the last eight years.

Penn State also had 64 Academic All-Big Ten selections for the 2001 fall sports (cumulative 3.0 GPA or higher). Penn State has led all Big Ten schools in total honorees each of the past three years, with a school record 227 honorees in 2000-01.

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