| Rodney Kinlaw (left), Ed Johnson and Steve Roach earned their degrees from the College of Liberal Arts on Saturday. |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., May 20, 2007 ?C Seventy Penn State student-athletes graduated during Commencement exercises this past weekend on the University Park campus.
Student-athletes from 22 of the 25 varsity sports (track and field/cross country are combined) were among the 70 student-athletes that were approved to graduate. Seven members of the women??s track and field/cross country team are graduating, as are five members of the football, men??s lacrosse and women??s fencing and women??s gymnastics teams.
Among the graduates are Penn State??s 2007 Ernest B. McCoy Award winners -- Stephanie Sullivan (women??s gymnastics) and Daniel Kaiserian (men??s swimming and diving).
Two members of the Nittany Lion football team will be graduating prior to their senior seasons ?C tailback Rodney Kinlaw and center Patrick Weber. Guard Robert Price will be earning his second degree, in management information systems, and defensive tackle Steve Roach from last year??s squad also is graduating.
Some of the other graduates include: Sasha Abraham (women??s tennis); Matt Cavagnaro (baseball); Renee Cipro (women??s lacrosse); Matt Cohen, who won the prestigious Nissen-Emery Award and led the men??s gymnastics team to its record 12th national championship; six-time All-American Shana Cox (women??s track and field); Alex Gutor (men??s volleyball); Claire Hawley (women??s swimming and diving); Sophia Hiss, who helped the fencing team capture its 10th NCAA Championship and All-American James Yonushonis (wrestling).
Penn State??s student-athletes, who have captured nine Big Ten Championships and two NCAA titles the past two years, consistently have been among the nation??s most successful in earning their degrees. Among some of the recent academic accomplishments are:
- Twenty-two of Penn State??s varsity teams have a three-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) score above the Division I average for their respective sports, according to NCAA data released earlier this month. Nine Penn State teams earned a perfect APR score of 1,000 during 2005-06 and three teams have a three-year APR score of 1,000 --- women??s golf, women??s lacrosse and women??s tennis.
- Penn State student-athletes earned a Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 86 percent compared to a 77 percent average for all Division I-A institutions, according to NCAA data released in November 2006. Twenty-one of Penn State??s 25 teams earned a GSR score above the national average (track and field and cross country are counted as one sport) and 19 teams had a GSR of 80 percent or better.
- Among the 1999-2000 entering freshman class, a record-tying 83 percent of Penn State student-athletes earned degrees within six years, compared to 62 percent for all Division I-A institutions, according to the NCAA. For the third time in the past five years, Penn State was tied for the highest graduation rate among the nation??s I-A public institutions.
- During the 2006 fall semester, 194 Nittany Lion student-athletes earned a 3.50 grade point average or higher to gain Dean??s List recognition. The total represents a record-tying 27 percent of the 717 young men and women who were members of Penn State??s 29 varsity sports. The 194 total is second only to the 199 Dean??s List students (also 27 percent) during the 2005 fall semester. Dean??s List students must complete a minimum of 12 credits in a semester.
- A total of 433 student-athletes earned a GPA of 3.0 or above last semester, the third-highest total, just nine off the record of 442 from the 2003 fall semester and two below the 2005 fall term total of 435. The 433 total represents a record-tying 60 percent of active student-athletes, equaling the mark set in the fall of 2003 and ??04.
- Penn State??s 81 percent four-year graduation rate is well above the national average of 63 percent for student-athletes. The four-year average was second highest in the Big Ten to Northwestern.
- African-American student-athletes at Penn State consistently graduate at much higher percentages than at other Division I-A institutions. The 71 percent four-year federal rate in 2006 marked the 16th straight year that Penn State's graduation rate for African-American student-athletes topped the African-American figures for Division I-A. At all Division I-A institutions in the NCAA compilation, the African-American four-year graduation percentile was 52 percent.
The University??s African-American student-athlete GSR was 77 percent, significantly higher than the national GSR average of 61 percent.
- Eleven Nittany Lions have earned ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America honors the past two years, including six thus far in 2006-07. Senior linebacker Paul Posluszny was selected the Academic All-American of the Year in Division I football.
- A total of 78 Penn State student-athletes earned Academic All-Big Ten honors last fall, the highest total among all conference institutions. Including the 48 honorees from the winter sports, Penn State??s 126 honorees so far in 2006-07 lead all Big Ten schools.