Dalhousie athletes earn top CIS academic honours

Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) announced the 2011-12 CIS Top 8 Academic All-Canadians earlier today and among the national academic stars were Dalhousie’s Miranda McMillan and Nathan Musoke.

Student-athletes balance busy schedules of academic commitments, rigorous training, competition and maybe even a bit of a social life. These two Dalhousie students have managed to strike just the right balance and have found themselves at the top of the AUS league when it comes to academic performance.

Originally from Truro, N.S., McMillan is in her fifth and final season with the women’s hockey team. Last season the assistant captain finished third in team scoring with five goals and 13 assists. She graduated last May from Dalhousie’s Bachelor of Science program and returned this year to complete an honours in statistics. In 2011-12 she maintained a perfect 4.3 grade point average, earning an A+ in all nine courses she was enrolled in. McMillan is the recipient of the TD Insurance Meloche Monnex Leadership Award and has been a member of the Dean’s List, a recipient of the Chancellor’s Scholarship and an Academic All-Canadian each of her first four years at Dalhousie. Miranda also finds time to help out in the community, volunteering for the Arthritis Society and assisting with Hockey Nova Scotia player development days in Lunenburg and East Hants.

Musoke is currently in his third year with the Tigers track and field team. He excels in the running events and in Dalhousie’s science program. Although he was born in Thimphu, Bhutan he grew up in Colombo, Sri Lanka and Lower Sackville, N.S. At the AUS championships last season he claimed a silver medal in the 300m and was a member of the 4x400m gold medal relay team. Musoke earned 11 A+ grades in 2011-12 for a perfect 4.3 grade point average. An honours student in mathematics and physics, he has received numerous academic awards including the NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award, the Burgess McKittrick Second Year Prize, the Dr. A. Stanley MacKenzie Prize in Physics, and the Dr. William J. Archibald Prize in Physics. Musoke has also volunteered the past five summers as an official at the under-15 provincial track and field championships, is involved with Imhotep’s Legacy Academy, a community outreach program with a goal of improving African Canadian representation in science, and is vice-president of the Dalhousie Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics Society.

On November 15 at the annual Academic All-Canadian Luncheon Dalhousie will recognize McMillan and Musoke as well as 93 other 2011-12 Dalhousie student-athletes who received CIS Academic All-Canadian status for earning a GPA of 3.43 or above. And while many former Dalhousie athletes have earned this national Top 8 recognition, this is the first time that both a female and male Dalhousie athlete have been recognized in the same year.

Historical Dalhousie CIS Top 8 Academic All-Canadians:
2010-11 Daniel You (volleyball)
2009-10 Alex Legge (basketball)
2007-08 Niklas Rademacher (volleyball)
2006-07 Katie Hollinshead (soccer)
2005-06 Jeff Weiler (volleyball)
2004-05 Hilary Burn (cross country, track & field)
2002-03 Marieke Gardner (soccer)
2001-02 Andrea Faryniuk (track & field)
1999-00 Aaron Barkhouse (soccer)
1996-97 Rachelle Beaton (track & field)

A complete story on all of the 2011-12 CIS Top 8 Academic All-Canadians is available on Canadian Interuniversity Sport's website.