UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State will conclude the 2015-16 academic calendar with summer commencement ceremonies on Saturday in the Bryce Jordan Center. A total of 16 Nittany Lion student-athletes from 12 teams have been approved to receive their diplomas.
With the 16 new graduates, Penn State Athletics closes out 2015-16 with 156 graduates this academic year. Fresh off a school record-tying 109 spring graduates, this year's 156 Nittany Lions earning their degrees is an increase of 10 over the 2014-15 total (146).
The student-athletes approved to graduate on Saturday are: Jordan Dickerson and Brandon Taylor (men's basketball), Brianna Banks (women's basketball), Stephanie Hussey (field hockey), Evan Schwan (football), Jill Holdcroft and Shannon Yoxheimer (women's hockey), John Von Nessen (men's lacrosse), Emily Smith (women's lacrosse), Drew Klingenberg (men's soccer), Jonathan Seiferth (men's swimming and diving), Kelly Kusevich and Allie Pennetti (women's swimming and diving), Victoria Kisialeva and Kimberley-Ann Surin (women's tennis) and Garett Hammond (wrestling).
Since the 2012 fall semester, when many of this weekend's graduates enrolled, Penn State student-athletes have won a Big Ten-leading seven NCAA championships and 24 Big Ten championships, tied for the conference's second-highest total over the past four years.
Penn State student-athletes have an NCAA graduation success rate of 88 percent and have earned 193 Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-America selections, the fourth-highest total among Division I programs. Four Nittany Lion student-athletes earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors in 2015-16: Nico Megaludis (wrestling), Zain Retherford (wrestling), Haleigh Washington (women's volleyball) and Tyler Yazujian (football).
For the fourth consecutive year, Penn State student-athletes broke the school record for the number of students with a 3.0 GPA or higher during both the fall and spring semesters. The number of students earning a 3.0 GPA in the fall semester has increased 10.5 percent the past four years from 463 in 2012 to 516 last fall.