National Collegiate Athletic Association

NCAA News Archive - 2010

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Feb 11, 2010 8:19:54 AM

The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference has established an academic award named after the late NCAA President Myles Brand that honors academically accomplished student-athletes who have exhausted their athletics eligibility and are on track to graduate.

The NSIC Myles Brand All-Academic with Distinction Award will be given annually to senior NSIC student-athletes who have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.75 or higher and are progressing toward their degrees. Honorees will receive a certificate of achievement and a wrist watch.

The league also is encouraging member schools to recognize student-athletes at a home athletics event. A total of 71 student-athletes from the NSIC's 14 institutions will receive the award in its inaugural year (see the list here). 

"The NSIC is privileged to name the award after Dr. Brand in recognition of his strong support and the continued emphasis he placed on academics in the ‘Life in Balance' theme of Division II," said Commissioner Butch Raymond.

Brand was selected as the NCAA's fourth chief executive officer in October 2002 and served until September 2009, when he lost a nine-month battle with pancreatic cancer.

"His impact on Division II ran deep by implementing an identity campaign and a strategic-positioning platform tied to specific divisional attributes," Raymond said. "He challenged Division II to continue its game-environment and community-engagement focus, and improve academic success rates."

The NSIC is a 14-team, 17-sport Division II conference with teams located in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.