Sept. 29, 2011
ATLANTA – Four Georgia Tech track and field athletes earned the distinction of the inaugural 1A FAR Academic Excellence Award. Recent graduates and men’s track athletes Hunter Clasen and Jay Oatts and women’s pole vaulters Erica Penk and Joanna Wright each took home the honor after posting a 3.80 GPA.
More than 400 Division I Football Bowl Subdivision student-athletes were named as the inaugural recipients of the 1A FAR Academic Excellence Award.
The award was established by the 1A Faculty Athletics Representatives to recognize student-athlete academic achievement.
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.
The award was given to 432 student-athletes: 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.
Clasen graduated with a degree in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Oatts earned his Bachelor’s in Computer Engineering, Penk received a degree in Computational Media and Wright received her degree in Biology.
