SELINSGROVE, Pa. – Susquehanna University senior Skyra Blanchard has been honored by Black Issues in Higher Education magazine as a first-team selection in women's basketball for the 2005 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars Awards.

Blanchard (Lewisburg, PA/Lewisburg) joins nine other student-athletes – including five from NCAA Division I schools – on the 10-player first team, and is one of just two Division III players among the 32 named to one of the three teams.

Black Issues in Higher Education established the Sports Scholars Awards to honor undergraduate students of color who have made achieving both academically and athletically a winning combination.

To be selected as a Sports Scholar, students need to compete in an intercollegiate sport, maintain a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.2 and be active on their campuses or in their communities.

Blanchard was named second-team All-Conference as she averaged 8.8 points and 10.2 rebounds per game from her starting center position to rank second in the conference in rebounding and 44th in the final NCAA Division III statistics. She finished sixth in the league with a team-best 2.36 steals per game.

She led the Crusaders in rebounding in 19 of the team's 25 games and scored in double figures 12 times. For the season, Blanchard recorded a Commonwealth Conference-high nine double-doubles and finished with 11 in her career.

For her career, Blanchard appeared in 92 games and scored 470 points (5.1 per game) while grabbing 676 rebounds (7.3 per game) to rank fifth on the school career list.

“Skyra has overcome a lot of obstacles to arrive where she is as a student-athlete and as a person,” said Susquehanna head women's basketball coach Liz Cranmer Briggs. “She's got wonderful energy and passion and was a joy to coach.”

Off the court, Blanchard has demonstrated leadership skills and community involvement in a variety of ways. She serves as head resident in Reed Hall, director of the campus gospel choir, office manager of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, and a tutor of elementary school students in English, computer science and math as part of an independent study project.

She is also editor of the campus publication Serenity , a member of the Dean's List, and a member of three honorary societies -- Sigma Tau Delta (English), Omicron Delta Kappa (leadership) and Alpha Lambda Delta freshman honor society.

“This is a great and well-deserved honor for Skyra,” said Brian Johnson, director of multicultural affairs at Susquehanna who coordinated her nomination. “Skyra has been an invaluable member of the campus community and her academic scholarship has been consistently exemplary. She is a remarkable student and formidable woman who exemplifies the true meaning of the scholar-athlete.”

Blanchard is an English and secondary education major and maintains a cumulative grade-point average of 3.79. Upon graduation in May, she plans to pursue a teaching career.