April 10, 2009
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Vanderbilt cross country runner Rob Whiting added another honor to his career when the NCAA recently announced that the Fernandina Beach, Fla., native was one of 58 student-athletes (29 men and 29 women) from fall sports to receive an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.
Whiting, a senior, was awarded with a one-time, nonrenewable grant of $7,500 to continue his education. The scholarships are awarded to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically, and who are in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition.
Whiting was one of eight cross country runners to receive the honor. The other male recipients hailed from football, soccer and water polo.
It is the second consecutive year a Vanderbilt student-athlete has received an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. Last year, Amanda Taylor from the women’s tennis team was a scholarship recipient.
The honor is one of many that Whiting has received this academic year. Earlier this month he was selected as Vanderbilt’s male nominee for the H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Postgraduate Scholarship.
A four-year letterwinner, Whiting has a 3.74 grade-point average, with a double major in economics and East Asian studies. He is an Ingram Scholars, which is Vanderbilt’s most prestigious award and is based on academics and commitment to service. He is the founder and president of Students for Students, Inc., mentoring high-poverty students and coordinating all organizational efforts and fundraising campaigns. He has also been a volunteer director of the Education Advancement Fund international and committee chair for Students Promoting Environmental Awareness and Recycling. He has also been a teacher aide in Beijing and a shift manager at Vanderbilt Microcomputer Labs.
Whiting is also a four-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll and has earned Dean’s List status every semester at Vanderbilt since the spring of 2006. Last fall he was named Vanderbilt’s most improved cross country athlete and was a John C. Wooden Citizenship Cup Finalist. He twice finished in the top 10 at the Commodore Invitational. He was a member of the SEC’s Track and Field Community Service Team and is a winner of Vanderbilt’s Tolbert Cup.
A member of the Omicron Delta Epsilon international economics honor society, he has earned the Lu Tao Scholarship for Chinese Proficiency and the Freeman-ASIA Study Abroad Scholarship, awarded to outstanding students who demonstrate sincere interest in incorporating East Asian studies into future academic and/or professional plans.
In total, the NCAA awards up to 174 postgraduate scholarships annually, 87 for men and 87 for women.
The NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship was created in 1964 to promote and encourage postgraduate education by rewarding the Association’s most accomplished student-athletes through their participation in NCAA championship and/or emerging sports.
