Six Cornell students who just graduated were honored this year with State University of New York (SUNY) Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence, which recognizes seniors who integrate academic excellence with accomplishments in leadership, athletics, community service and the arts.

"Only 238 students of over 427,000 SUNY students are honored with the Chancellor's Award for Excellence," said Ronald Seeber, Cornell's vice provost for land grant affairs. "Cornell University is proud to have our best students honored by SUNY in this way."

This year's winners are:

• Michele Barrett, D.V.M. '09;
• Jessie Fair '09, an apparel design major from the College of Human Ecology;
• Miriam Goler '09, an agricultural sciences major from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences;
• Tamika Lewis, D.V.M. '09;
• Lindsay McAleer '09, a human development major from the College of Human Ecology; and
• Eric Shannon '09, a biology and society major from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence was created 12 years ago to recognize the most accomplished students at each of SUNY's 64 campuses across New York.

Each year, campus presidents establish a selection committee, which reviews exemplary members of their college communities who are graduating. Nominees are then forwarded to the Chancellor's Office for a second round of review.