Belmont University nursing graduate Alison Alcott (Dallas, Texas) has been named one of the nominees for the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year award for her achievements on and off the field as a member of the Bruins’ women’s soccer team.

Last month, Alcott was presented the 2015 Ohio Valley Conference Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award for her stellar career on the pitch and in the classroom along with good sportsmanship and citizenship, becoming only the second women women’s player to garner the honor.

Alcott played in every game of her collegiate career for the Belmont, including starting all but 10 of those contests.  She was a two-time All-OVC selection and this past season was named Third Team NSCAA All-South Region.  She also served as a co-captain for Belmont during her final season.

In the classroom, Alcott was selected as a CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-American in 2014, making her one of just 33 soccer student-athletes selected nationally at the Division I level.  She has also been an OVC Medal of Honor and Commissioner’s Honor Roll selection and a member of the Dean’s List as a nursing major.  She was also one of six OVC Scholar-Athlete Award winners for 2013-14 and earned the Belmont Presidential Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award for 2015.

On campus, she was a member of the Student-Athletes Advisory Committee (SAAC), serving as the organization’s secretary this past year.  Alcott was a member of the Alpha Chi honor society, the Phi Sigma Iota foreign language honor society and the Student Nurses Association.

In the community, she volunteered with numerous organizations and events including the Nashville Rescue Mission, Special Olympics, Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, Camp Bruin and Operation Christmas Child.  Alcott also traveled to Costa Rica, on a medical mission trip and helped set up medical clinics, diagnosed patients and organizing and dispensed medication.

Now in its 25th year, the Woman of the Year award honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in academics, athletics, service and leadership.

All conference nominees are forwarded to the Woman of the Year selection committee, which chooses the top 30 honorees – 10 from each division.  From the top 30, the selection committee determines the top three nominees from each division and announces the top nine finalists in September.  The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics then chooses from among those nine to determine the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year.

The 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced, and the Top 30 honorees celebrated, at the annual award ceremony Oct. 18 in Indianapolis.