Randy S. Hanson

Professor, School of Business & Social Sciences
David H. Winton Endowed Teaching Chair

Professor Randy Hanson came to Colby-Sawyer in 1996 from Mexico, where he had been teaching for four years at the Universidad de las Americas-Puebla. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master of Arts and Ph.D. from Indiana University, Bloomington. His areas of expertise include Mexican history, especially its religious history, modern Latin American history and masculinity and gay identity in modern Mexico. He also teaches courses involving modern Mexico, U.S. history, America in the 1960s and revolutions and revolutionaries.

Randy is quick to inform students that his are not lecture courses. He designs his classes around the philosophy of Benjamin Franklin, who believed in the transformative power of learning by engaging in civil discussion with genuine openness and interest. In his syllabus, Randy tells his students to come to class prepared and ready to participate with intellectual humility, which he defines as “the recognition that all positions are tentative, open to modification and even abandonment, when faced with new evidence or convincing counter argument.”

It is a model that resonates with students. One nominator wrote, “Professor Hanson is the epitome of a great teacher. Not only does he deeply care about the educational well-being of his students, but he deeply cares about their emotional and mental well-being as well. His passion for the topics he teaches is evident in class discussions and his selections for readings.” Another wrote, “Through his use of open class discussions, Professor Hanson encourages intellectual curiosity within and across disciplines, engages students in the class, and inspires students to do their best work.” A third wrote, “Professor Hanson has inspired me to be a better student as I tried my best to do well in his class.”

Randy chairs the Academic Policies Committee and co-chairs the Cultural Events Committee. He is the faculty sponsor of honor society Alpha Chi and the Hispanic Latino Club. He is actively involved in campus life, attending student events and hosting the monthly Hot Wings and Hot Topics film discussion series. He received the New Hampshire Professor of the Year Award from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 2001.

He is a second-time recipient of the Jack Jensen Award for Excellence in Teaching, having been honored first in 1999. As is tradition, as winner of the Jensen Award, Randy will deliver the college’s 185th Commencement address on Saturday, May 6.