STATE COLLEGE, Pa., April 14, 2003 -- The 16th Annual Academic Achievement Banquet was held tonight in the Bryce Jordan Center and the Nittany Lion women's volleyball team was presented with the team award for highest grade-point average in 2001-02.

The event was held in conjunction with National Student-Athlete Day.

Sponsored by the Morgan Academic Support Center for Student-Athletes, the Student-Athlete Advisory Board and the Nittany Lion Club, a total of 279 awards were presented to 230 student-athletes for their academic accomplishments in 2001-02. All 230 honored earned a 3.00 grade point average or higher during the 2001-02 academic year, an increase of 20 percent from the 2000-01 total of 184.

Presentations also were made to 61 seniors who had a 3.0 or higher cumulative GPA through the Spring 2002 semester. Among the approximately 800 Penn State student-athletes on 29 varsity teams, the overall average team GPA was a superb 3.02 in 2001-02 with 15 teams earning an average of 3.0 or better.

The Nittany Lion Club presented its True Grit Award to two student-athletes for overcoming adversities during their careers. The recipients were: Nikki Bongiovanni (women's gymnastics, Meriden, Conn.) and Eric Dare (football, State College, Pa.)

The Varsity "S" Award was presented tonight for the second time. The honor goes to the women and men's teams with the highest team GPA. This year's recipients were the women's volleyball team, coached by Russ Rose, and men's tennis squad, coached by Jan Bortner.

One of the special recognition awards presented went to Ellen Perry, Penn State's former Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator, who retired last June after a distinguished 36-year career with the Lions.

The 2002 NCAA graduation rate report showed that 82 percent of Lion student-athletes who began their careers in 1995-96 graduated within six years, well above the 60 percent national average. The 82 percent rate was Penn State's second-best performance in the 12-year history of the report, topped only by the 83 percent mark for the entering class of 1989-90.

Penn State's rate was tied with Virginia for the highest of any Division I public institution and was tied for eighth-best nationally among all Division I institutions. Northwestern (86 percent) was the only Big Ten institution with a higher student-athlete graduation rate than Penn State.

Penn State's four-year graduation rate average for student-athletes was 78 percent, also considerably higher than the 59 percent national average.

For the sixth consecutive year, Penn State led all Big Ten institutions in academic all-conference honorees, with 209 selections in 2001-02. Over the past six years, Penn State has had 1,242 Academic All-Big Ten selections, easily the most among the conference institutions. To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a letterwinner in at least their second academic year and carry a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better.

Six Nittany and Lady Lion student-athletes were selected a Verizon Academic All-American in

2001-02 and four have earned the honor thus far in 2002-03, giving Penn State 63 such selections over the past nine years and 102 total. To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a letterwinner in at least their second academic year and carry a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or better.