Angular distributions of vector analyzing power and differential cross sections were measured for the 60Ni(d, p) 61Ni reaction at a deuteron energy of 10 MeV. The observed j- dependence of the vector analyzing power allowed unambiguous spin assignments for the fol- lowing states in 61Ni (excitation energies in MeV): 0.0, 3 2 − ; 0.068, 5 2 − ; 0.284, 1 2 − ; 1.186, 3 2 − ; 2.701, 5 2 + . A definitive assignment of 1 2 − is made to that member of an unresolved doublet at 2.123 MeV which proceeds by l n = 1 transfer. An assignment of 9 2 + is indicated for the member of the doublet which proceeds by l n = 4 transfer. Most of the data are well reproduced by DWBA calculations employing available deuteron and proton optical model parameters. The behavior of the vector analyzing power for the two low lying 61Ni states formed by l n = 1 transfer was measured for angles from 2.5° to 15° using a magnetic spectrograph and found to be in agreement with DWBA predictions.