IRVING, Texas – The American Conference has announced that Memphis men’s soccer standout Logan Longo and Tulane track and field star Janae Dean have been chosen as the winners of the 2024-25 Commissioner’s Postgraduate Leadership Awards by the conference’s Academic Committee.
The awards are given annually to one male and one female student-athlete from an American-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.
Longo and Dean will each receive a $5,000 scholarship, which may be applied to postgraduate study.
Longo becomes the sixth Memphis student-athlete to earn a Commissioner’s Postgraduate Leadership Award. A native of Memphis, he earned second-team all-conference honors in 2024, helping the Tigers to the American regular-season title, and was the recipient of the Zach Curlin Award, the highest honor bestowed upon a male student-athlete at Memphis.
Longo, who graduated from Memphis with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and is pursuing a master of public health degree, was chosen as a student marshal at the university’s 2024 undergraduate commencement ceremony as the graduating senior with the highest GPA in the College of Arts and Sciences. He was chosen as a Burton Weil Scholar and earned the Chi Beta Phi Award in Psychology and Chemistry as the graduating senior with the highest overall GPA in those disciplines. He was one of 42 student-athletes nationally to earn a prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship in the fall of 2024.
Dean is the third Tulane student-athlete to earn a Commissioner’s Postgraduate Leadership Award. She helped Tulane to its first American Indoor Track and Field Championship in 2025 as she finished second in the 800-meter run. She added a second runner-up finish in the 800 at the American Outdoor Championship in 2025 and was the conference’s outdoor champion in the 800 in 2023.
A native of Kansas City, Kansas, Dean was recognized with the American’s 2025 Marlon Dechausay Unity Award, recognizing individuals who create meaningful opportunities, uplift those around them and champion the growth and success of student-athletes and staff. She earned a prestigious Roll Wave Scholarship for graduate students and was chosen as a Stephen Martin Scholar, an honor reserved for two student-athletes who excel academically and athletically while demonstrating leadership and civic engagement.