Sept. 27, 2011
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The NCAA has named its inaugural recipients of the 1A FAR Academic Excellence Awards and 10 Notre Dame graduates were among the more than 400 Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) student-athletes that received the honor.
The award was established by the 1A Faculty Athletics Representatives to recognize student-athlete academic achievement. Notre Dame is one of just seven schools with 10 or more recipients of the honor.
Recipients must have graduated in the past academic year with at least a 3.80 cumulative grade-point average and have participated in at least two years of intercollegiate athletics at an FBS institution in a sport sponsored by an FBS conference. Football student-athletes at FBS institutions that are independent in football were also eligible for the award.
Four of the Notre Dame student-athletes honored were from the Fighting Irish track & field/cross country program, while three football players and one student-athlete each from men's tennis, softball and men's lacrosse were honored.
The award was given to 432 student-athletes nationally: 136 men and 296 women. Twenty-eight percent of the recipients majored in mathematics, science or engineering; 22 percent in business-related fields; 18 percent in social sciences or humanities; 12 percent in health-related studies; 7 percent in education; 6 percent in communications; and the remaining 7 percent in other fields.
Notre Dame 2011 Faculty Athletics Representatives (FAR)
Academic Excellence Award Recipients
Name Sport GPA Major
Spencer Carter Men's Cross Country 3.824 Science-Business
William Davis Men's Tennis 3.914 Science-Business
Christopher Gurries Football 3.856 Chemical Engineering
Erin Marrone Softball 3.978 Accounting
James Redshaw Football 3.955 Science-Preprofessional Studies
David Ruffer * Football 3.926 Economics
Daniel Schmitt Men's Lacrosse 3.893 Biological Sciences
Jessica Sullivan Women's Track & Field 3.919 Finance
Erica Watson Women's Cross Country 3.972 Finance
Jasmine Williams Women's Track & Field 3.821 Accounting
* - currently competing in his fifth season
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