This year's list of honorees includes at least 155 students with a flawless 4.0 GPA in 2016-17, including Boilermakers Bree Horrocks, Jimmy Herman, Ted Curtiss, Grace Hernandez, Hanna House, Luke Lewis, Susan Hubbard and Amy Poynter. Purdue's list of 2017 award recipients features degrees in a variety of diverse fields including mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, speech, language and hearing sciences, biological engineering, chemistry, biology, economics, mass communication, actuarial science, finance and more.
Big Ten Faculty Representatives established the Distinguished Scholar Award in 2008 to supplement the Academic All-Big Ten program. Similar to the Academic All-Big Ten honor, Distinguished Scholar Award recipients must be letterwinners in at least their second academic year at their institution. However, the Distinguished Scholar Award encompasses only students with a minimum GPA of 3.7 or higher for the previous academic year, excluding summer school. The Academic All-Big Ten threshold is a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher for a student's academic career.
| NAME | SPORT | YEAR | MAJOR | |
| Evan Kennedy | Baseball | Jr. | Finance | |
| Alec Olund | Baseball | Jr. | Organizational Leadership | |
| Bree Horrocks | Women's Basketball | Jr. | Psychological Sciences | |
| Bridget Perry | Women's Basketball | Sr. | Biomedical Engineering | |
| Jeremy Craven | Men's Cross Country | Jr. | Computer Science | |
| Gabrielle Broschard | Women's Cross Country | Jr. | Animal Sciences | |
| Jenna Halderman | Women's Cross Country | So. | Applied Exercise & Health | |
| Reagan Lear | Women's Cross Country | Jr. | Movement & Sport Sciences | |
| Renee Studt | Women's Cross Country | Jr. | Accounting | |
| Sarah Tyler | Women's Cross Country | Sr. | Chemistry | |
| Jimmy Herman | Football | Sr. | Actuarial Science | |
| Jake Herr | Football | So. | Movement & Sport Sciences | |
| Jake Replogle | Football | Sr. | Management | |
| Bearooz Yacoobi | Football | So. | Building Construction Management Technology | |
| Ashley Yarbrough | Women's Golf | Jr. | Movement & Sport Sciences | |
| Erika Arkans | Women's Soccer | Jr. | Public Health | |
| Katie Bittner | Women's Soccer | Sr. | Elementary Education | |
| Gabby LaMere | Women's Soccer | Jr. | Selling & Sales Management | |
| Christa Szalach | Women's Soccer | Sr. | Public Relations & Strategic Communication | |
| Erika Yohn | Women's Soccer | Jr. | Mass Communication | |
| Morgan Cavinder | Softball | Jr. | Management | |
| Maya Hughes | Softball | Jr. | Human Services | |
| Marat Amaltdinov | Men's Swimming & Diving | Jr. | Economics | |
| Josh Brooks | Men's Swimming & Diving | Sr. | Electrical Engineering | |
| Alex Close | Men's Swimming & Diving | So. | Health Science Preprofessional | |
| Ted Curtiss | Men's Swimming & Diving | Sr. | Materials Science & Engineering | |
| Josh Ehrman | Men's Swimming & Diving | Sr. | Aviation Technology | |
| Grant Lewis | Men's Swimming & Diving | So. | Industrial Engineering | |
| James Nguyen | Men's Swimming & Diving | Sr. | Electrical Engineering | |
| Jake Thomas | Men's Swimming & Diving | Jr. | Biomedical Engineering | |
| Alex Toetz | Men's Swimming & Diving | Sr. | Movement & Sport Sciences | |
| Danielle Auckley | Women's Swimming & Diving | So. | Law & Society | |
| Alex Clarke | Women's Swimming & Diving | So. | Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences | |
| Alex Ford | Women's Swimming & Diving | Jr. | Biomedical Engineering | |
| Grace Hernandez | Women's Swimming & Diving | Sr. | Biology | |
| Rachel Ho | Women's Swimming & Diving | Jr. | Biology | |
| Hanna House | Women's Swimming & Diving | Jr. | Biology | |
| Meagan Lim | Women's Swimming & Diving | Sr. | Materials Science & Engineering | |
| Hannah Manger | Women's Swimming & Diving | Sr. | Human Services | |
| Leah Ritsema | Women's Swimming & Diving | Sr. | Organizational Leadership | |
| Andjela Djokovic | Women's Tennis | Sr. | Biochemistry | |
| Jeremy Craven | Men's Track & Field | Jr. | Computer Science | |
| Luke Lewis | Men's Track & Field | Jr. | Chemistry | |
| Gabrielle Broschard | Women's Track & Field | Jr. | Animal Sciences | |
| Jenna Halderman | Women's Track & Field | So. | Applied Exercise & Health | |
| Micaela Hazlewood | Women's Track & Field | Jr. | Movement & Sport Sciences | |
| Susan Hubbard | Women's Track & Field | So. | Biological Engineering | |
| Reagan Lear | Women's Track & Field | Jr. | Movement & Sport Sciences | |
| Devon Pessler | Women's Track & Field | So. | Mechanical Engineering Technology | |
| Amy Poynter | Women's Track & Field | Sr. | Movement & Sport Sciences | |
| Renee Studt | Women's Track & Field | Jr. | Accounting | |
| Sarah Tyler | Women's Track & Field | Sr. | Chemistry | |
| Ashley Evans | Women's Volleyball | Jr. | Mechanical Engineering | |
| Linnea Rohrsen | Women's Volleyball | Jr. | Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences |