Every day is a good day to learn more about UC San Diego, but we've chosen a particular one to spread knowledge with our new feature called "Triton Tuesday." Each Tuesday, get the inside scoop with fun facts about Triton athletics, the UC San Diego campus and community, and our beautiful home of San Diego, California, in a Did You Know? format.

Our mission statement says it all - "The mission of UC San Diego Athletics is to ensure that our educational and athletic excellence develops inclusive leaders for life while enriching and engaging the University and San Diego as a whole."

In this week's installment, we dive a little deeper into the mission by taking a look at the academic excellence displayed by the Tritons year in and year out.

The Academic All-America® program, established by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), is considered one of the most elite and distinguished academic awards that a scholar-athlete can earn. Combining both academic and athletic prowess, it recognizes the top scholar-athletes from NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA, two-year colleges, and Canadian institutions.

The first CoSIDA Academic All-America® team (football) was released on Saturday, Dec. 6, 1952. Men's basketball was added in 1963 and baseball in 1970. The first women's Academic All-America® team - women's basketball - appeared in 1980. Starting with the 1987-88 academic year, CoSIDA began selecting an Academic All-America® of the Year in each sport and an overall Academic All-America® Team Member of the Year by division.

Currently, CoSIDA sponsors Academic All-America® programs for football, men's soccer, women's soccer, women's volleyball, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, softball and men's and women's track and field/cross country. In addition, scholar-athletes from many other sports such as fencing, golf, women's rowing, swimming and diving, tennis, men's volleyball, and water polo are honored through the Academic All-America® At-Large program.

Honorees, which are selected by the CoSIDA membership, begin their path by being nominated for Academic All-District® recognition. First team all-district awardees then move on to the Academic All-America® ballot.

To be nominated, a scholar-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.30 cumulative grade point average at his/her current institution. They must be at least a sophomore athletically and have completed at least one full calendar year at his/her institution. In addition, the nominee must have competed in at least 50 percent of their team's contests in the season that they are being nominated for.

In total, 83 scholar-athletes from UC San Diego have been named a CoSIDA Academic All-American®. The first Triton honored was Ellen Chi of the women's volleyball team, who earned the distinction in 1987. Most recently, baseball standout Brandon Weed was recognized in 2020.

Seven Tritons have been selected as an Academic All-American® three times including Adam Burgasser (swimming and diving), Luke Calkins (swimming and diving), Cassie Callahan (soccer), Joel Kosakoff (soccer), Clint Rosser (cross country/track and field), Audrey Sung (cross country/track and field), and Justin Zhang (tennis).

Another 14 Tritons have won the award twice, including Gordon Beh (water polo), Jamie Bryan (swimming and diving), Chi, Michael Cohn (swimming and diving), Matt Davey (soccer), Brian Donohue (water polo), Jill Jackson (swimming and diving), Ele Johnson (soccer), Adam Klie (basketball), Kellen Levy (cross country/track and field), Courtney Miller (water polo), James Nielsen (cross country/track and field), Elias Tuma (baseball), and Justin Zhang (tennis).

Two UC San Diego scholar-athletes have been named the CoSIDA Academic All-American® of the Year for their sport - basketball star Adam Klie in 2017 and Mark Latronica of the swimming and diving team in 2001.

In case you were wondering which team has produced the most Academic All-Americans®, men's soccer and women's swimming and diving each have 11.

As for CoSIDA Academic All-District® selections, 179 have come out of UC San Diego.

For a complete list of UC San Diego's CoSIDA Academic All-America® and Academic All-District® honorees, click here.

Congrats to all of our incredible scholar-athletes!    

PRIOR TRITON TUESDAYS
• 1992 Dream Team Finds a Home at Main Gym (Sept. 1)
• UC San Diego Home to Award Winning Faculty (Sept. 8)
• UC San Diego Athletics Hall of Fame (Sept. 15)
• Exploring Dr. Seuss in San Diego (Sept. 22)
• La Jolla's Wonderful Weather (Sept. 29)
 
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program begins a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide more than 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. In addition, 83 Tritons have been named Academic All-Americans, while 37 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions. For more information on the Tritons, visit UCSDtritons.com or follow UC San Diego Athletics on social media @UCSDtritons.