Nov. 20, 2008
The Big Ten Conference office announced today the creation of the Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award. The first recipients will be honored prior to the fall of 2009, based on their grade-point averages (GPA) from the 2008-09 academic year.
Student-athletes eligible for the Distinguished Scholar Award must be letterwinners in at least their second year in residence at their institution. Qualifying student-athletes must have earned a GPA of 3.7 or higher for the previous academic year, excluding summer school. The 3.7 GPA benchmark was designed to include the top 10 percent of all eligible student-athletes. The Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award was established by conference Faculty Representatives as an addition to the conference's Academic All-Big Ten program.
During the 2007-08 academic year, the Big Ten recognized nearly 2,100 student-athletes as Academic All-Big Ten honorees, marking the highest total in the 14-year existence of the program. Student-athletes eligible for Academic All-Big Ten consideration are letterwinners in at least their second year with their institution and carry a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. The 2008-09 fall Academic All-Big Ten teams will be announced the week of Dec. 1.
