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 RecipientsName Sport GPA MajorSpencer Carter Men's Cross Country 3.824 Science-BusinessWilliam Davis Men's Tennis 3.914 Science-BusinessChristopher Gurries Football 3.856 Chemical EngineeringErin Marrone Softball 3.978 AccountingJames Redshaw Football 3.955 Science-Preprofessional StudiesDavid Ruffer * Football 3.926 EconomicsDaniel Schmitt Men's Lacrosse 3.893 Biological SciencesJessica Sullivan Women's Track & Field 3.919 FinanceErica Watson Women's Cross Country 3.972 FinanceJasmine Williams Women's Track & Field 3.821 Accounting
* - currently competing in his fifth season
–ND–