State College, Pa.- The 14th Annual Academic Achievement Banquet was held Tuesday, March 20 in the Bryce Jordan Center and the Penn State men's golf team was presented with the team award for highest grade-point average in 1999-2000.

Sponsored by the Morgan Academic Support Center for Student-Athletes, the Student-Athlete Advisory Board and the Nittany Lion Club, a total of 271 awards were presented to 211 student-athletes for their academic accomplishments in 1999-2000. All 211 honored earned a 3.00 grade point average or higher during the 1999-2000 academic year.

Presentations also were made to 67 seniors who had a 3.0 or higher cumulative gpa through the Spring 2000 semester. Among the more than 700 Penn State student-athletes on 29 varsity teams, the overall average team gpa was 3.05 in 1999-2000 with 18 teams earning an average of 3.0 or better.

For the 1999-2000 academic year, 206 Penn State student-athletes were named as Big Ten Academic All-Conference honorees, most of any institution.

For the 2000 fall semester, 135 Penn State student-athletes posted a grade point average of 3.5 or better. The efforts of the Morgan Academic Support Center for Student-Athletes again was reflected in the latest NCAA graduation report, which showed that 78 percent of Nittany Lion student-athletes who began their careers in 1993-94 graduated in six years, compared to a 58 percent national average.

Penn State has had 17 student-athletes earn Verizon All-America honors the past two years, including eight in 1999-2000, second-most to receive the recognition at the University in one academic year. Football player Jordan Caruso earned the distinction this past fall for the second consecutive year, giving Penn State 44 Verizon Academic All-America selections in the past seven years.