Awards

O'Neill School of Public & Environmental Affairs Distinguished Alumni Awards - 2003

About Nina Harding

Nina A. Harding was a commissioner of the Seattle Civil Service Commission. She had a law practice in the city, which specialized in employment discrimination within the public sector, labor management, mediation and arbitration. Harding was appointed to the Commission by the Seattle City Council in May 1998.

Born in Boston on June 1, 1938, Harding spent her youth in Canton, Mass., where she graduated with honors from Canton High School in 1956. Because of racial discrimination, Harding was not granted a scholarship to further her education at a local state college. Nevertheless, she continued her educational pursuits and graduated with honors in 1957 from Chandler School for Women, followed by attendance at Boston University in 1958. Harding relocated to Seattle in 1960 where she married Maurice Harding of Bourne, MA. Harding continued her education and graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle with honors in 1974. She attended the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma and subsequently enrolled at Indiana University, where she earned a joint JD/MPA degree. Harding was 42 when she graduated from law school and she passed the Washington State Bar examination at the age of 52.

Harding's passions included the law, education, community activism, cancer prevention, and knitting. She made hundreds of hats and scarves for oncology patients and donated many beautiful shawls to various breast cancer clinics in the Seattle area. Alarmed by high mortality rates among African-American women breast cancer victims, Harding promoted early breast cancer detection through her African Methodist Episcopal church women's mammogram project. She volunteered her time and expertise to the courts, professional groups, bar association committees, the Neighborhood Legal Clinic in the Central Area, and First A.M.E. Church. Harding taught law related courses at both the university and community college level for many years. She also created and launched a successful GED education program for Seattle's King County jail. The embodiment of giving back to her community, Harding earned over 100 awards and commendations from national, regional, state, and local entities throughout her lifetime.