B.A., Mathematics/Economics; Worthington, Ohio.

Ryan Erik Mills, son of Aija Mills of Buttermilk Avenue, Worthington, Ohio, was among six Denison University seniors who were honored by President Dale T. Knobel as this year's "President's Medalists" during the University's annual Academic Awards Convocation on April 11. Mills is 1999 graduate of Worthington Kilbourne High School.

President Knobel's presentation remarks:

"Ryan, your Denison career has been marked by engagement on all fronts - academic, athletic, and service to the community.

"You have been a member of the Phi Society, Phi Beta Kappa, the math honorary, the Spanish honorary, and the economics honorary.

"One of your professors comments that you have 'an incredibly gifted and talented mind,' one that she has very often used as a sounding board for her ideas and future projects.

"As a mathematical economics major, and one who believed that the attack on the World Trade Towers was your generation's Pearl Harbor, you went on to complete an honors project on the similarities in economic impacts between Pearl Harbor and the current campaign against terrorism.

"On the athletic front you are captain of the Denison soccer team, and you have been named All-North Coast Athletic Conference Defender, Team Defensive MVP, first-team All-Ohio Academic Team, and one of two Denison student representatives to the NCAC Student-Athlete Advisory Council. Recently you were chosen as a first-team member of the Verizon Academic All-District squad. This is an important award that is given to students who do well academically at the same time that they excel in athletic competition - the true definition of what we call the 'scholar-athlete.'

"Your other credentials at the College include your service as the president of ODK, staff member of June Orientation, and Vice President of Mortar Board, all culminating in your being selected this year for a Dean's Distinguished Service Award.

"It is with great pleasure today that we applaud and congratulate your countless accomplishments at our college, and we know from experience that these accomplishments are a mere prelude of what is to come."