IRVING, Texas – Commissioner Mike Aresco has announced that former Cincinnati swimmer Din Selmanovic and former Memphis soccer player Stasia Mallin have been chosen as the winners of the 2019-20 Commissioner’s Postgraduate Leadership Awards by the American Athletic Conference faculty athletics representatives. 
 
The awards are given to one male and one female student-athlete from an American Athletic Conference-sponsored sport who have been admitted to a degree-granting or professional program for the following year and who have demonstrated leadership through excellence in academic credentials, athletic performance and depth of commitment to service within the institution or the community. 
 
Selmanovic and Mallin will each receive a $5,000 scholarship, which may be applied to postgraduate study. 
 
Selmanovic becomes the third Cincinnati student-athlete to earn a Commissioner’s Postgraduate Leadership Award, following Juliana Madzia (cross country/track and field, 2016-17) and his sister, Enna, a swimmer who won the award in the 2018-19 season. A native of Mississauga, Ontario, Selmanovic is a four-time American Athletic Conference individual champion as he won the 500-yard freestyle title in 2019 and 2020, took the 200 freestyle relay in 2019 and was part of the first-place 800 freestyle relay in 2020. He was named in 2019 as The American’s Male Swimmer of the Year and was a part of two teams that won American Athletic Conference titles in men’s swimming and diving.
 
Selmanovic earned a 3.845 grade-point average as an undergraduate with a degree in neuroscience. He was nominated by Cincinnati for a Rhodes Scholarship, was the recipient of the school’s Presidential Leadership Medal of Excellence and was recognized for his laboratory work in the neurobiology of Alzheimer’s disease. Selmanovic additionally was president of Cincinnati’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was instrumental in advancing The American’s national Pow6rful Minds campaign, which raises awareness on mental health issues and promotes academic and personal success.
 
Selmanovic plans to pursue a PhD in neuroscience.
 
Mallin, who hails from Carmel, Indiana, becomes the fourth student-athlete from Memphis to win a Commissioner’s Postgraduate Leadership Award, following Zach Willis (baseball, 2013-14), Keenan Joyner (track and field, 2014-15) and Chandler Klemm (soccer, 2017-18). A semifinalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy in 2019, Mallin earned United Soccer Coaches first team All-America status and American Athletic Conference first team honors last season and ranks as The American’s career leader with 29 assists. She is a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-America selection, earning second-team honors in 2018 and first-team accolades in 2019. She helped Memphis, which was ranked as high as No. 8 nationally last season, to the 2019 American regular-season title as well as the 2018 tournament championship and two NCAA Championship appearances. 
 
Mallin earned a 3.981 GPA with a degree in biomedical engineering, graduating summa cum laude. She was a member of the Alpha Eta Mu Beta national biomedical engineering honors society, the Tau Beta Pi engineering honors society and the Alpha Epsilon Delta health professional honors society and was Memphis’ recipient of the Elma Roane Award in 2020, honoring a female student-athlete with drive, enthusiasm and determination while maintaining a concern for others. She served as a paid undergraduate research assistant in Memphis’ biomedical engineering department, volunteered at Target House/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, FedEx House and Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. 
 
Mallin, who was nominated by Memphis for the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year Award, plans to enroll in medical school and pursue a career in orthopedic surgery, sports medicine or sports psychiatry.
 

 
 
Commissioner’s Postgraduate Leadership Award
The Commissioner’s Postgraduate Leadership Award is presented annually to two student-athletes (one male, one female) who have demonstrated leadership through excellence in academic credentials, outstanding athletic performance and depth of commitment in service within the institution and/or in the community.
 

2013-14	Zach Willis, Baseball, Memphis
	Jackie Wattles, Volleyball, UConn
2014-15	Keenan Joyner, Track and Field, Memphis
	Julie Kernen, Softball, Tulsa
2015-16	Julien Dodu, Swimming & Diving, East Carolina
	Hannah Emnett, Rowing, Tulsa
2016-17	Kirk Smith, Cross Country/Track and Field, Tulsa
	Juliana Madzia, Cross Country/Track and Field, Cincinnati
2017-18	Chandler Klemm, Soccer, Memphis
	Vendela Norman, Swimming & Diving, East Carolina
2018-19	Austin Allen, Tennis, East Carolina
	Enna Selmanovic, Swimming & Diving, Cincinnati
2019-20	Din Selmanovic, Swimming & Diving, Cincinnati
	Stasia Mallin, Soccer, Memphis