Rice University celebrated the achievements of its student-athletes and the legacy of one of their most influential mentors during the 40th annual Scholar-Athlete Celebration March 5 in the R Room at Rice Stadium.
Hosted jointly by Rice Athletics and the Office of Academic Advising for Athletics (OAAA), the annual banquet recognized the newest class of scholar-athlete award winners while also honoring Julie Griswold, who founded the event in 1987 and is retiring after four decades of advising Rice student-athletes.
During the program, Rice vice president and director of athletics Tommy McClelland announced that the celebration will carry Griswold’s name moving forward.
“Beginning next year, this event will forever be known as the Julie Griswold Scholar-Athlete Banquet,” McClelland said. “This is my favorite event that we put on at Rice. When you come to a banquet like this, you’re reminded that this is truly about being a scholar-athlete — the experience and relationships that shape these students.”
In addition to renaming the banquet, McClelland announced the creation of the Julie Griswold Scholar-Athlete Scholarship, ensuring that Griswold’s impact on Rice Athletics will continue for generations of Owls.
“In this world right now, people can get caught up chasing logos,” McClelland said. “Julie, you’ve chased legacy. Rice is a place where longevity and legacy equal impact, and you’ve done that.”
Griswold created the scholar-athlete banquet shortly after arriving at Rice in 1986, recognizing a gap in how the university celebrated the academic accomplishments of its athletes.
“When I first got here, we had amazing student-athletes excelling in the Southwest Conference, but we didn’t have a way to recognize their academic achievements,” Griswold said. “That’s really how this banquet and the scholar-athlete award got started.”
What began as a simple recognition event has grown into one of the most meaningful annual traditions for Rice Athletics — a reflection of the university’s commitment to excellence both in competition and in the classroom.
Each year, Rice scholar-athletes are selected from a pool of Honor Athletes, students who have earned a cumulative GPA of 3.30 or higher over at least five semesters. Each varsity team may recognize up to three athletes with the title of Scholar-Athlete with honorees chosen by the OAAA in conjunction with the teams’ coaching staffs. The banquet also recognizes senior honor athletes from every sport.
For Griswold, the work was never just about grades or accolades but about the people she helped guide through one of the most formative chapters of their lives.
“Rice Academic Advising for Athletics has been a really good match for me,” she said. “I’m still here because I love the work, I love to be inspired and I don’t like to be bored.
“My wish for the scholar-athletes here is that you not only fulfill your dreams, but that you discover dreams you didn’t even know you had.”
For a full list of the athletes honored in 2026, click here.