UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Two hundred twenty-four Penn State student-athletes earned Spring/At-Large Academic All-Big Ten honors, which is a non-alternate grading program record, to raise the Nittany Lions' yearly total to 478 for 2021-22.
The latest 224 honorees raises Penn State's total academic honorees to 7,877 since 1991-92.
To be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten, students must be on a varsity team, 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.
Softball's Claire Swedberg, who was the Health and Human Development marshal for the college of biobehavioral health at graduation, highlights the list as the only student-athlete with a perfect 4.0 GPA. She also earned a Fulbright Grant to complete her master's degree in Global Health at Maastricht University in the Netherlands beginning this fall.
Penn State Highest Academic All-Big Ten Yearly Totals
(3.0 GPA):
2021-22: 478*
2020-21: 446^
2018-19: 368
2017-18: 360
2019-20: 350
* - School record
^ - alternate grading system used due to COVID-19.
The Nittany Lions' spring/at-large teams were led overall by women's track & field with 32 honorees. On the men's side, men's lacrosse had 28 student-athletes earn Academic All-Big Ten plaudits.
Team by Team Honorees
Baseball – 16
Men's Lacrosse – 28
Men's Tennis – 8
Men's Track & Field – 21
Men's Golf – 7
Men's Fencing – 16
Men's Volleyball - 14
Women's Fencing – 13
Women's Golf – 6
Women's Hockey – 17
Women's Lacrosse – 22
Softball – 16
Women's Tennis – 8
Women's Track & Field – 32
In 2021-22, the Penn State athletic department finished with a record 478 Academic All-Big Ten selections.
Penn State Highest Spring/At-Large Academic All-Big Ten Totals (3.0 GPA):
2021 – 226^
2022 – 224*
2019 – 183
2020 – 174^
2018 - 166
* - School record
^ - alternate grading system used due to COVID-19.
Penn State Among the Nation's Premier Athletic Programs in Comprehensive Excellence
Under Sandy Barbour's leadership, 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.
Nittany Lion students have posted an NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of program-record 92 percent in the most recent report. Ten teams earned a 100 percent graduation rate in the 2021 NCAA Graduation Rates Report. The Nittany Lions rank No. 4 among all Division I schools with 213 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans all-time.
Penn State student-athletes have led the athletic department to 47 Big Ten championships and nine NCAA National Championships since October 2013. Penn State is one of only five schools that have won at least 10 NCAA Championships since 2012 and earned at least a 90 percent Graduation Success Rate in the 2021 NCAA report (Stanford, Florida, USC, Virginia). The Nittany Lions rank fifth in the Learfield IMG College Director's Cup following the fall season.
Record-Breaking NCAA Graduation Success Rate
The 2021 NCAA graduation rate 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% to tie the school's all-time record of 92, which was previously set in the 2020 NCAA report. Nittany Lion students posted a 92% graduation rate compared to the 89% average for all Division I institutions for students entering from 2011-12 through the 2014-15 academic year.
Penn State student-athletes have logged a Graduation Success Rate in the 88-92% range during each of the past 15 NCAA reports, improving from 88% in the 2015 report to a record-breaking 92% report in 2020 and 2021. 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 18 Penn State squads have a GSR of 90% or higher.
