Northwestern's Zach Marshall, Bethany Lutheran's Eva Voss named recipients of the UMAC Scholar-Athlete Leadership Award
ST. PAUL – The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) has announced that Zach Marshall and Eva Voss have been named the 2009 recipients of the UMAC Scholar-Athlete Leadership Award. The UMAC Scholar-Athlete Leadership Award, which is given to one male and one female from a UMAC member-institution, recognizes graduating seniors who demonstrate a healthy balance by achieving excellence in academics, leadership, and service, while participating in intercollegiate athletics.
The NCAA Division III athlete is unique among intercollegiate athletes because, at Division III institutions, student-athletes receive no financial aid for athletic participation. These institutions emphasize the overall quality of the educational experience and successful completion of the student’s academic program; athletic participation is an important part of that educational experience. The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete Award is presented to students who embody what it means to be an NCAA Division III athlete. Through this award the UMAC recognizes the role athletics plays in developing leaders by rewarding athletes' excellence in the classroom as well as service to the community. The league’s Faculty Athletic Representatives (FAR) nominate and vote on this honor.
Marshall is a cross country and track and field student-athlete at Northwestern College who is majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies – Literature and Philosophy and minors in English. As an Eagle Scholar at Northwestern, Marshall must carry 15 credits of advanced honors courses each year and maintain a 3.65 grade point average each semester. The senior has also earned UMAC Academic All-Conference honors in each of the last three years. Marshall has received awards in Hebrew and Greek studies while also being a member of the English Honors Society, a prestigious membership for those in the English field. Marshall gives service in multiple areas, including tutoring fellow students in Northwestern’s ALPHA Center and being active with Operation Christmas Child.
Dr. Marie Miller, who chairs the UMAC’s committee of faculty athletics representatives, noted that the voting council was particularly impressed with Marshall’s ability to maintain a high level of academic achievement while providing service leadership to a wide variety of efforts – some of which required a long-term ongoing commitment.
Voss has been a four-year starter on both the volleyball and basketball teams at Bethany Lutheran College while majoring in Elementary Education. Voss received the one of the top academic scholarships at Bethany Lutheran in the Presidential Academic Scholarship while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. A three-time UMAC Academic All-Conference winner in each sport, Voss was often times seen studying on the bus and in hotel lobbies while travelling with her teams. Voss also gave her time to numerous organizations including Kids Against Hunger and the local humane society while also serving as a volunteer volleyball coach.
Dr. Miller commented that Voss’s exceptional academic achievement of maintaining a 4.0 GPA through four years of two-sport participation is supported by outstanding leadership on campus and service to many organizations.
"Zach and Eva are outstanding examples of student-athletes who exhibit the NCAA Division III and UMAC philosophies of focusing on academics first, followed by athletics,” said Corey Borchardt, Commissioner of the UMAC. “The field from which these two individuals were chosen from was highly competitive, and they should be lauded for their efforts both inside and outside of the classroom.”
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The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference is comprised of eight full and six associate members located throughout the Midwest. Originally formed in 1972 as the Twin Rivers Conference, the league was renamed in 1983. The UMAC is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III. The conference provides its member institutions the opportunity to be recognized in the areas of academic excellence and athletic competitiveness. The UMAC awards conference championships in 16 sports.
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