Dec. 17, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., - Twenty-four Penn State student-athletes are scheduled to graduate during Commencement exercises Saturday on the University Park campus.
Student-athletes representing nine different Penn State squads are on the approved to graduate list, including three-time ESPN/CoSIDA Academic All-American® Stefen Wisniewski (football).
Blair Brown, a women's volleyball first-team All-American, is on the graduation list and received her degree last Tuesday in a surprise ceremony with Penn State President Graham Spanier before the team left for the NCAA semifinals in Kansas City. Brown and her teammates will play California on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET, as the Nittany Lions seek an unprecedented fourth consecutive national championship. The match will air on ESPN2, WRSC-FM (103.1) in State College and www.GoPSUsports.com.
Second team All-American Matheus Braga (men's soccer) and women's soccer All-Americans Alyssa Naeher and Katie Schoepfer are scheduled to graduate Saturday. Three former Lady Lion Basketball members also are on the approved to graduate list: two-time first-team All-Big Ten choice Tyra Grant, Meredith Monroe and Janessa Wolff.
An AFCA All-American, Wisniewski was among three Penn State Football student-athletes that earned ESPN/CoSIDA Academic All-America® honors this fall, being joined by senior Chris Colasanti and sophomore Pete Massaro. Penn State's 15 Academic All-Americans® since 2006 easily lead all Football Bowl Subdivision teams.
Penn State has had 24 ESPN/CoSIDA Academic All-Americans® among all sports over the past 2 ½ years.
Also among the 10 members of the Nittany Lion football team scheduled to graduate this weekend are co-captains Ollie Ogbu and Brett Brackett. The wide receiver will be earning his second undergraduate degree. Football squad members Andrew Dailey, Doug Klopacz, Kevion Latham, Shelton McCullough, Jonathan Stewart, Collin Wagner and Graham Zug also are approved to graduate.
Penn State is consistently at or near the top nationally in the graduation of its student-athletes.
The NCAA's annual study of institutions nationwide revealed in November, 2010 that Penn State student-athletes at the University Park campus earned a record Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 90 percent compared to a 79 percent average for all Division I institutions for students entering from 2000-01 through 2003-04.
In addition to releasing each institution's overall four-year Graduation Success Rate, the NCAA also released the federal graduation rates for students and student-athletes as it has for the past 20 years. The four-year federal graduation rate average for University Park student-athletes was 80 percent, significantly higher than the national average of 64 percent, and second to Northwestern (88) among Big Ten Conference institutions.