UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Big Ten Conference announced Wednesday, March 17 that 106 Penn State student-athletes earned Winter Academic All-Big Ten honors. The 106 honorees are the highest Penn State total since 91 student-athletes claimed honors in 2019.
To be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten selection, students must be on a varsity team, as verified by being on the official squad list as of March 1 for winter sports, who have been enrolled full-time at the institution for a minimum of 12 months and carry a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or higher.
The women's swimming & diving team led Penn State for the third consecutive year with 26 Academic All-Big Ten honorees. The men's swimming & diving team earned 16 honorees, giving the program a total of 42 for the winter awards.
Cael Sanderson's student-athletes for the wrestling program earned 17 Winter Academic All-Big Ten honors, the most among the Penn State men's programs honored by the conference.
The winter academic performance follows 114 Penn State student-athletes earning Fall Academic All-Big Ten honors. The two sets of honorees for the 2020-21 school year currently sits at 220 and brings Penn State's all-time total to 7,173.
The Academic All-Big Ten recipients for the women's hockey, men's and women's fencing and men's and women's indoor track & field teams will be announced with the spring and at-large sport honorees later this year.
The conference office also awards Academic All-Big Ten distinction in the fall and spring seasons and will present the Distinguished Scholar Award at the end of the academic year. To be eligible for selection, students must be a recipient of Academic All-Big Ten Recognition in the previous academic year, must be enrolled for the entire previous academic year (two semesters or three quarters) and earned a minimum GPA of 3.7 or higher during that time. The Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award was established by conference Faculty Representatives as an addition to the conference's Academic All-Big Ten program.
Record-Breaking NCAA Graduation Success Rate
The Nittany Lions recorded a fourth consecutive record academic performance with a 92 percent graduation success rate, according to data reported by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
The NCAA's annual graduation rates report of Division I institutions across the nation revealed Penn State student-athletes at the University Park campus earned a Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 92 percent to break the school's all-time record of 91, which was previously set in the 2019 NCAA report. Nittany Lion students posted a 92 percent graduation rate compared to the 88 percent average for all Division I institutions for students entering from 2010-11 through the 2013-14 academic year.
Penn State student-athletes have logged a Graduation Success Rate in the 88-92 percent range during each of the past 14 NCAA reports, improving from 88 percent in the 2015 report to a record-breaking 92 percent report in 2020.
Sixteen of the Nittany Lions' 27 teams (men's and women's track and field/cross country teams combined) earned a Graduation Success Rate at or above the Division I national GSR average for their respective sport. A total of 17 Penn State squads have a GSR of 90 percent or higher.
Penn State Among the Nation's Most Comprehensive and Successful Athletic Programs
Under the leadership of Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Sandy Barbour, Penn State has one of the nation's most comprehensive and successful athletic programs, featuring 800 student-athletes across 31 varsity programs (16 men's, 15 women's). The Nittany Lions' 31 programs are tied for the fourth-highest number of sports sponsored by a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) institution