An NIU senior and Student Association Senator died Tuesday morning from lung cancer after a five year bout with various types of cancer.

Jennifer Onan was a photojournalism major and a political science and Spanish minor.

“Cancer’s never stopped her from doing anything,” said Lara Cipolla, Onan’s freshman roommate and SA public relations adviser. “She was very involved, very active,” she said.

Onan was very dedicated and hard working, Cipolla said. Everytime Onan thought she had beaten her illness, she would continue with her life in full force, Cipolla said.

Onan was “highly dedicated to her studies and to her involvement” on the political science floor where she lived for three years, said Gary Glenn, an associate professor of political science.

“Jennifer was a first-rate student with a brilliant mind,” Glenn said, who has known Onan for “two or three years.” She was self-disciplined and spirited, he said.

“She had the capacity to see a complicated argument clearly on the first time through,” he said. “She took studies very seriously and made important contributions to the personal interactions” on her floor, he said.

When Onan was told her illness would be terminal, “she faced that with exemplary strength,” Glenn said. “She faced this long illness with remarkable fortitude and courage,” he said.

Onan also was involved with classes on her floor which included an hour of class with about 10 students and a professor, Glenn said. One such class was on Plato’s Republic.

Onan’s death was “not an unmixed blessing” because she was in a lot of pain, Glenn said.

Cipolla said she hoped to have a memorial for Onan in August, but no details were organized yet.