Big Ten announces distinguished scholar award recipients

The Big Ten Conference announced on Wednesday that 781 students competing in intercollegiate athletics have earned the Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award. The list includes students from every institution and 38 different sports who have recorded a minimum grade-point average (GPA) of 3.7 or higher for the previous academic year.

[ MORE: View the full list of distinguished scholars (PDF) ]

The 2014-15 class of Distinguished Scholar Award recipients includes 119 students who maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA during the previous academic term. This group of honorees is pursuing diverse fields of study with a list of majors that include accountancy, biological sciences, biomedical engineering, business administration, electrical engineering, journalism, marketing, mathematics and many others.

Big Ten Faculty Representatives established the Distinguished Scholar Award in 2008 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 students 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?s academic career.