July 17, 2003

STAMFORD, Conn. - The 2002-03 Academic All-America® of the Year honors were announced today by Verizon and the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Academic All-America of the Year honors for the university division were awarded to gymnast Theresa Kulikowski of the University of Utah. Kulikowski, who was recently selected as the Women's At-Large Team Member of the Year for the second consecutive year, is a 14-time All-American and three-time NCAA champion. She was voted the AAI Senior Gymnast of the Year by the nation's gymnastics coaches and holds school records for most career 10.0 scores (14) and most career victories (111). A perfect 4.0 student and the recipient of an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, she is the first student-athlete from Utah and the first gymnast to receive this award.

University of Utah's Athletic Director, Dr. Chris Hill, said of Kulikowski, "I consider it an honor to have been associated with Theresa Kulikowski during her career as a student-athlete at the University of Utah. As a fan of our gymnastics program, I was awed by her incredible athletic feats. As an educator, I was similarly impressed with her outstanding academic accomplishments. Few people have the talent, brains and drive to achieve perfection in any area of life, and she did so on the competitive floor and in the classroom, time and time again."

Kenyon College swimmer Ashley Rowatt was selected as the college division's Academic All-America® of the Year. Selected as this year's college division Women's At-Large Team Member of the Year, Rowatt has won three individual national titles, two national relay titles and 13 All-American awards during her career. Rowatt was a four-year qualifier for the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship and led Kenyon to three national championships and four NCAC championships. Additionally, she is the recipient of an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and was recently nominated for the NCAA Woman of Year award. Rowatt, who finished her collegiate career with a 3.96 GPA studying molecular biology, is also the first Kenyon student-athlete and first swimmer to be selected for this honor.

"I'm extremely honored to receive this award from Verizon and am grateful to my professors, coaches and classmates at Kenyon College for helping me reach my goals in the classroom and in the pool," said Rowatt. "The environment at Kenyon provided me with such a rich collegiate experience and the opportunity to thrive both academically and athletically."

The Academic All-America of the Year honor, which began in 1987-88, is awarded to the most outstanding student-athlete of the year and is chosen from the student-athletes who have been awarded Team Member of the Year honors. From over 360,000 student-athletes in the nation, just 816 are selected as Academic All-America Team members each year, twenty-four are selected as Team Members of the Year and two are named Academic All-America of the Year.

"With over 10,000 student athletes being nominated for Academic All-America® each year, and considering the number of athletes completing in intercollegiate sports, to reach the epitome of what it means to be a successful student-athlete and be selected as the best of the best is quite an amazing achievement," said Bentley College's Dick Lipe, Academic All-America chair at CoSIDA.

Former recipients of Academic All-America of the Year honors include Rebecca Lobo (1994-95), Peyton Manning (1997-98), Chad Pennington (1999-00) and Stacey Dales-Schuman (2001-02). A full list of the previous recipients of the AAA of the Year award follows.

Founded by CoSIDA in 1952, the Academic All-America Teams program recognizes collegiate student-athletes for their outstanding achievements in the classroom and on the playing field. Over the past 50 years, the Academic All-America program has grown into one of the most recognized and prestigious collegiate scholar-athlete awards nationwide, honoring student-athletes from all NCAA championship sports. To be eligible, an athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve and maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.20 on a scale of 4.00. A Fortune 10 company, Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) is one of the world's leading providers of communications services. Verizon companies are the largest providers of wireline and wireless communications in the United States, with 136.6 million access line equivalents and 33.3 million Verizon Wireless customers. Verizon is the third-largest long-distance carrier for U.S. consumers, with 13.2 million long-distance lines, and the company is also the largest directory publisher in the world, as measured by directory titles and circulation. With approximately $67 billion in annual revenues and 227,000 employees, Verizon's global presence extends to the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. For more information about Verizon, visit www.verizon.com. For more information about the Academic All-America programs, visit www.cosida.com or email academicallamerica@millsport.com.

VERIZON ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA®OF THE YEAR RECIPIENTS PREVIOUS WINNERS

Year      Name                  School              Sport
2002-03   Theresa Kulikowski    Utah                Gymnastics
          Ashley Rowatt         Kenyon College      Swimming
2001-02   Stacey Dales-Schuman  Oklahoma            Basketball
          T.J. Hess             Widener College     Football
2000-01   Ruth Riley            Notre Dame          Basketball
          Emily Bloss           Emporia State       Basketball
1999-00   Chad Pennington       Marshall            Football
          Korey Coon            Illinois Wesleyan   Basketball
1998-99   Matt Stinchcomb       Georgia             Football
          Kelly Schade          Simpson             Softball
1997-98   Peyton Manning        Tennessee           Football
          Brad Gray             MIT                 Football
1996-97   Danny Wuerffel        Florida             Football
          Julie Roe             Millikin            Basketball
1995-96*  Todd Fuller           North Carolina St.  Basketball
          Chris Palmer          St. John's (MN)     Football
1994-95   Rebecca Lobo          Connecticut         Basketball
(tie)     Rob Zatechka          Nebraska            Football
1993-94   Carl Erikson          Oberlin             Tennis
1992-93   Jim Hansen            Colorado            Football
1991-92   Tommy Vardell         Stanford            Football
1990-91   Al Parker             Georgia             Tennis
1989-90   Alec Kessler          Georgia             Basketball
1988-89   James Martin          Penn St.            Wrestling
1987-88   Michael Smith         Brigham Young       Basketball

* From 1988-1995 only one winner was chosen per year. Beginning in 1996 the format was changed to select one winner per year in each division (college and university).