Ishani Banerji, a double major in psychology and cinema, is an outstanding student researcher in psychology and has completed five research studies. Her senior honors project compared Indian and American students' attitudes toward intra- and inter-racial dating and marriage. Banerji served as a member of the June Orientation staff for three years and as its student staff coordinator last year, as a head resident in the residential halls, a tour guide for the Admissions Office and as president of "Inkslinger," an on-line publication. Banerji was a founding member of the First Fridays Committee and a Safe Zone Facilitator, a participant in the Peer Advisory Network and in LeaderShape.

Presentation remarks:

"Ishani, your career at Denison has cut a wide swath of outstanding curricular and co-curricular trails. Driven by your native intellectual curiosity, you have double majored in psychology and cinema, and your work as a psychology student elicits great praise from your psychology teachers. One comments that you are adept at challenging yourself and your fellow classmates to consider course materials from multiple perspectives.

"Another says that, 'Ishani consistently elevates the level of discussion in the classroom by asking tough, probing questions. Little slips by her, and for that reason she makes her professors better teachers.' You have contributed to no less than five psychology research studies in your time at the college. Your honors advisor says that your project -- comparing Indian and American students' attitudes toward intra- and inter-racial dating and marriage -- makes a "significant contribution to the field.

"At the same time, you have enriched the life of the college in ways that underscore your central commitment to what might be called the development of young students. You have served on the June Orientation staff for three years, and last year you were selected as the student staff coordinator. You were a founding member of the First Fridays Committee, and you have served as Head Resident, a tutor in the writing center, a psychology tutor, a psychology senior fellow, and a Safe Zone Facilitator. And you have mastered the art of walking backwards as an admissions Tour Guide. On top of all that you have been President of Inkslinger, a Denison online publication, and a participant in the Peer Advisory Network and in LeaderShape. With all that you have done at the college, your selection as a recipient of the Dean's Distinguished Leadership Award was practically a foregone conclusion.