Dr. Linda N. Hanson became Hamline University’s 19th president in July 2005. More than 4,500 undergraduate, graduate, and law students attend Hamline, ranked ninth of 142 master’s level colleges and universities in the Midwest by US News and World Report and first in this category in Minnesota. There are 550 full-time faculty and staff located on the Saint Paul and Minneapolis campuses.
Hanson is president emeritus of the College of Santa Fe, where she served as president for five years. College of Santa Fe is a Lasallian, independent, comprehensive college of 2,000 traditional-aged undergraduates and nontraditional aged graduate students located on campuses in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Under her leadership, the college developed a five-year strategic plan for all academic, financial, and governing decisions and revised its core curriculum.
Previously, Hanson served nine years as vice president for university relations at Seattle University, the Pacific Northwest’s largest independent university with more than 7,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Under her leadership, the Jesuit university raised $66.8 million in a comprehensive capital campaign. She served Seattle University as assistant provost for executive education and developed the Executive Leadership Program, an interdisciplinary leadership training program through Seattle University’s schools of business, education, and theology. At Seattle University, Hanson taught master’s level classes in the School of Education and the Institute for Public Service.
Before joining Seattle University, Hanson served as president of Independent Colleges of Washington, a consortium of ten independent colleges and universities in Washington, and as vice president for development at Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi. She spent many years in arts management, as director of development for The Denver Center for the Performing Arts and as executive director of the Paramount Theatre for the Performing Arts in Austin, Texas.
Hanson grew up in Savannah, Georgia and taught English in secondary schools for six years. She graduated summa cum laude from Southern Nazarene University in Oklahoma with a degree in English and speech communication. She earned a doctor of education in educational leadership and a master’s degree in educational administration from Seattle University. She was awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters from College of Santa Fe. She completed the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard University in 1995 and the Harvard Seminar for New Presidents in July 2000.
Hanson currently chairs the executive committee of the Associated Colleges of the Twin Cities and serves as a member of the Minnesota Private College Council board of directors. She is a member of the Saint Paul Capital City Partnership. Previously, Hanson served on the boards of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce, and the New Mexico Association of Commerce and Industry and was a U.S. representative for the International Association of Lasallian Universities.
Hanson is married to J. Laird Hanson, who has a twenty-five-year career in banking and financial management. He previously served in public relations and development roles at Milton College, the University of Denver, and major public universities. The Hansons reside in St. Paul, Minnesota and have a 22-year-old son who recently graduated from Stetson University and lives in Orlando, Florida.
