Dec. 20, 2007
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Twenty-one Penn State student-athletes are scheduled to graduate during Commencement exercises Saturday on the University Park campus.
Among the student-athletes approved to graduate are three members of men's soccer and men's track and field programs, including goalkeeper Conrad Taylor (Colorado Springs, Colo.), a two-time ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American. Allen Pettner (Mercersburg, Pa.), the 2006 and '07 Big Ten javelin champion, also will earn his degree.
Lady Lion Basketball senior tri-captain Kamela Gissendanner (Clairton) is graduating, as are Kim Markel (Wexford) from the women's track and field team, senior diver Kimberlee Peifer (Camp Hill) from the women's swimming and diving team and senior Jean Rettig (Hummelstown) of the Big Ten Champion women's soccer team.
Six members of the Nittany Lion football team are scheduled to graduate this weekend, including two-time All-America linebacker Dan Connor (Wallingford) and junior All-Big Ten cornerback Justin King (Pittsburgh), who is earning his degree in three years. Among some of the other members of the football team who are approved to graduate are: safety Jason Ganter (State College), junior fullback Dan Lawlor (Mechanicsburg), kick snapper/linebacker Chris Mauriello (Lansdale) and guard John Shaw (Spring Grove).
Offensive lineman Elijah Robinson (Camden, N.J.) also will graduate. He was unable to play this season due to a neck injury that occurred last spring.
Also scheduled to graduate is former All-Big Ten safety Calvin Lowry, who was a senior on Penn State's 2005 Big Ten and FedEx Orange Bowl title team. The starting free safety with the Tennessee Titans, Lowry is scheduled to participate in Commencement on Saturday and return to Nashville later in the day. The Titans host the New York Jets Sunday at 4:15 p.m. ET.
Penn State is consistently at or near the top nationally in the graduation of its student-athletes.
The NCAA's 2007 graduation rate report revealed that Penn State student-athletes at the University Park campus earned a record Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 88 percent compared to a 77 percent average for all Division I institutions for students entering from 1997-98 through 2000-01.
Penn State freshman student-athletes entering in 2000-01 earned a federal graduation rate of 83 percent, significantly above the 63 percent for all Division I institutions. The 83 percent federal rate was tied for Penn State's best performance in the history of the report, with the entering classes of 1999-2000, 1997-98 and 1989-90.
Penn State's student-athlete federal graduation rates for the 2000-01 freshman class and the four-year average were second-highest in the Big Ten Conference to Northwestern. The Nittany Lions' GSR of 88 percent was tied for second in the conference (with Illinois), trailing only Northwestern.