Thirty Seven Student-Athletes Earn Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award

July 15, 2010

IOWA CITY, IA – The Big Ten Conference has announced the recipients of the 2009-10 Distinguished Scholar Award, which includes 37 student-athletes from the University of Iowa. The announcement was made today by the Big Ten office.

The list features student-athletes from every institution and 32 different sports who have earned a minimum grade-point average (GPA) of 3.7 or higher for the previous academic year.

In February of 2008, Big Ten Faculty Representatives established a conference academic recognition to supplement the Academic all-Big Ten program. Similar to the Academic all-Big Ten honor, Distinguished Scholar Award recipients must be letterwinners in at least their second academic year at their institution. However, the Distinguished Scholar Award encompasses only student-athletes with a minimum GPA of 3.7 or higher for the previous academic year, excluding summer school. The Academic all-Big Ten threshold is a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher for a student-athlete’s academic career.

Ten members of the Hawkeye rowing team appeared on the list, followed by four members of the women’s soccer and cross country squads. Other UI teams represented include men’s track and field (3), women’s gymnastics (3), men’s tennis (2), football (2), baseball (2), women’s track and field (1), men’s cross country (1), men’s golf (1), women’s basketball (1) and wrestling (1).

In addition, 11 UI student-athletes maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA for the previous academic year.

The complete list of UI winners can be found by clicking on the link below (bold notates a 4.0 GPA).

UI Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award Winners