Penn State has won a new award for college athletics that covers numerous areas beyond won-loss records, such as graduation rates and spending money efficiently.

The award, called the Excellence in Athletics Cup, was created to recognize all-around achievement in athletics and areas associated with student-athletes, according to Dr. Michael Sagas, director of the Laboratory for the Study of Intercollegiate Athletics (LSIA) at Texas A&M University.

Sagas said the award is based on a point system for such areas as winning in conference competition, winning in post-season competition, excellence in graduation rates of student-athletes compared to the overall undergraduate study body, excellence in gender equity opportunities and scholarship allocations, and excellence in efficiently using financial resources. The scoring system was based on information provided by NACDA, the Department of Education and the NCAA for the institutions that are members of the following conferences: Big Ten, ACC, Big 12, Big East, Pac-10 and SEC.