Denison University students Laura Fanning, Alicia Hurle and Nefertiti Oji-Nijideka are among the winners of the 2001 Human and Civil Rights Diversity Award from the Licking County branch of the NAACP. The award is given to individuals who have shown through their facilitative actions that they are diversity agents in their place of work, school, college, university, agency, community or church.

Fanning is a senior biology and education major with a minor in chemistry. She has volunteered with numerous Denison Community Association committees, is active in her church and has been involved with varsity athletics and Greek life at Denison. She is an active volunteer at New Beginnings, a domestic violence shelter, and also founded a mentoring program that encourages other Denison students to volunteer at the shelter. She is the daughter of Ruth Fanning of Belmont Drive, Westlake.

Hurle is a senior sociology/anthropology and black studies double major at Denison. A consistent dean's list student, she has been inducted into the Phi Society (an academic honorary recognizing excellence in the freshman year), Omicron Delta Kappa (the international leadership society) and Alpha Kappa Delta (the international sociology honor society) and is a sociology/anthropology department fellow. Hurle is active in many student organizations including La Fuerza Latina, the Black Student Union and is vice-president of the Native American Student Association. She is the daughter of Diane and John Hurle of Ivanhoe Court, Louisville, Ky.

Oji-Njideka is a junior biology major and philosophy minor at Denison. She is president of the sailing club and is active in the Denison International Students Association and the Black Student Union. She has been a member of the NAACP since her sophomore year in high school and won a gold medal in poetry at the Louisville NAACP Academic Olympics. She is the daughter of Abasi and Shamfa Oji-Njideka of West Second Street, Dayton.

"Seeing and recognizing differences in others, as a positive aspect to be celebrated, and helping to advance diversity through their actions, is the one thing that all of the nominees have in common," says Rita Jackson, president of Licking County chapter of the NAACP. "Regardless of their title, age or position within the Licking County community, the nominees have in some capacity recognized that diversity is important and directly relates to human and civil rights."

The awards will be presented during a banquet at 6 p.m. on Thursday (May 10) at The Place off the Square (50 South Second Street) in Newark. Tickets for this event are $35 and include dinner, entertainment and a speaker.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

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