CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Division 2 Athletics Directors Association (D2 ADA) announced the 2019-20 recipients of the D2 ADA Academic Achievement Awards. The Academic Achievement Awards, in its 13^th year, is a program that recognizes the academic accomplishments of student-athletes at the Division II level.
 
The University of Charleston accounted for 90 student-athletes receiving Academic Achievement Awards, leading the Mountain East Conference. Notre Dame College rounded out the MEC with 73 selections. The full list of Golden Eagle Academic Achievement Award recipients can be viewed here
 
In total, there were 15,215 student-athletes from 200 institutions recognized for the 2019-20 Academic Achievement Awards. These numbers shattered the records for highest number of participating institutions and the largest number of student-athletes being nominated since the award program's inception. For the second-straight year, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) has the largest number of student-athlete honorees with 1,365 total, closely followed by the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) with 1,333 and the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) with 1,220.
 
"In a year when we can use all of the good news, the D2 ADA Officers and Board of Directors are proud to recognize the highest number of student-athletes with the Academic Achievement Award than ever before," said D2 ADA President JR Smith, director of athletics at Chadron State College. "The nominations also came from a record number of institutions, showcasing the passion and dedication of our Association and Division II as a whole."
 
Independently, the PSAC's Gannon University led the way with 219 honorees, followed closely by Stonehill College of the Northeast-10 Conference (NE10) with 208 award winners. Lindenwood University out of the Great Lakes Valley Conference finished third with 188 recipients and another PSAC representative Seton Hill University came in fourth overall with 180. Rounding out the top-five was the GLVC's University of Indianapolis with 175 nominees.
 
In order for a student-athlete to receive an Academic Achievement Award, the athletics director of the Division II institution MUST BE a CURRENT dues-paying member of the D2 ADA.
Also, the student-athlete must:

• have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale
• have attended a minimum of two years (four semesters) of college level work 
• have been an active member of an intercollegiate team during his/her last academic year

About D2 ADA: The D2 ADA is the first organization of its kind to provide educational and networking opportunities; enhancement of acceptable operating standards and ethics; and establishment of the overall prestige and understanding of the profession of Division II athletics directors. For more information about the D2 ADA, please visit www.div2ada.com. The D2 ADA is administered by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), which is in its 56^th year. For more information on NACDA and the 17 professional associations that fall under its umbrella, please visit www.nacda.com.
 
CLICK HERE to view the complete release and view the breakdown of nominees for each institution.