Student-athletes across the conference were recognized as Big Ten Distinguished Scholars for achieving grade-point averages of 3.70 and better. Twenty-one of the Boilermakers' 76 honorees (28%) compiled flawless 4.0 GPAs during the 2019-20 school year. Eleven of Purdue's teams had at least one student-athlete with a 4.0.

Graduate student Evan Boudreaux (basketball) and juniors Megan Slamkowski (track & field/cross country), Dale Williams (swimming & diving) and Megan Johnson (swimming & diving) have maintained perfect 4.0 marks for the entirety of their academic careers at Purdue.

Boudreaux completed his master's program in May, headlining a group of 12 Boilermakers that were Big Ten Distinguished Scholars as well as May graduates. That elite list also included: baseball's Matt Moore and Dalton Parker; golfer Filippo Massobrio; Maddy Duncan, Katie Luce and Alyssa Lum of women's soccer; softball's Halle Hixenbaugh; swimmers Anna Giesler, Natalie Mudd and Jinq En Phee; and Janae' Moffitt of track & field.

Big Ten Faculty Representatives established the Distinguished Scholar Award in 2008 to supplement the Academic All-Big Ten program. Distinguished Scholar recipients must have earned Academic All-Big Ten recognition in the previous academic year, must have been enrolled full time at the institution for the entire previous academic year (two semesters or three quarters) and earned a minimum GPA of 3.70 during the previous academic year, excluding any summer grades. The Academic All-Big Ten threshold is a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher for a student's academic career.

Purdue had 234 student-athletes earn Academic All-Big Ten honors during the 2019-20 school year.

The executive board and committee directors for the university's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (for 2020-21) was well represented among the Big Ten Distinguished Scholars. Those in both groups includes: swimming & diving's Caylee Casbon, Kelsey Macaddino and Maggie Merriman; wrestler Jared Florell, golfer Inez Wanamarta, Léony Boudreau of women's basketball; and Slamkowski of track & field/cross country. Softball's Alexa Binckes, a three-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, also served on Boiler SAAC's executive board as a senior this past school year. Florell was also selected for the Big Ten Anti-Hate and Anti-Racism Coalition.

BIG TEN DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR NOTABLES
• Women's swimming & diving had a Purdue-best 19 student-athletes honored as Big Ten Distinguished Scholars this year.
• Hannah Melchiorre was a third-team Academic All-America honoree for women's soccer in 2019.
• Janae' Moffitt was Purdue's female recipient of the Big Ten Medal of Honor and a Big Ten champion in the high jump.
• Maddy Duncan was Purdue's female recipient of the Big Ten Outstanding Sportsmanship award.
• Megan Johnson (swimming & diving) & Joe Weiler (golf) were also named Academic All-District for the at-large sports category in the spring.
• Greg Duncan was the Big Ten champion in 3-meter diving.
• Myia Dorsey helped Purdue win the Big Ten title in the 4x400 relay.
• Evan Boudreaux was the only men's basketball player in the conference to earn Big Ten Distinguished Scholar honors while compiling a 4.0 GPA for 2019-20.

Article courtesy of Purdue Athletics.