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While at Seattle, Hanson helped the university raise $66.8 million in a capital campaign, and at Santa Fe, she turned around a $3 million budget deficit.

She has also been a high-school English teacher, a yearbook and newspaper adviser, a cheerleading coach, and a weathercaster.

What first drew you to Hamline?

What drew me here was certainly the reputation of the school. I’m very interested in the graduate and undergraduate programs offered, along with the law school. The combination is similar to Seattle University, where I worked for nine years.

Also, I was drawn by the similarity of programs I’m familiar with, and the spirit of the place. I was intrigued once I started reading about the school, the goals and ambitions of Hamline. It seemed like a place that fit me and fit my interests.

Part of Hamline’s vision includes the phrase “student-centered university.” What plans do you have to further that vision?

It’s really easy to say we are [a student-centered university]; it’s much more difficult to be student-centered. People who have been my vice presidents or my deans, people who are in my senior administration, always bring up new initiatives, and the first question I always ask them is this: How is this going to do with students? Do students really want this? Do we have a need for this? Is there a market for this?

If we don’t serve our students, we’re not doing our job. Universities can oftentimes get wrapped up in themselves, in initiatives, as in “let’s go start a program,” but find later that students would be much more interested in another program.

Students learn in the classroom, but outside the classroom, students learn as much if not more: in residence halls, on the athletic field, in daily interactions with each other and the faculty and staff.

Also, we need to be focused on “creature comforts.” If [students] don’t have good food to eat, residence halls that work for them, or the right kinds of technology, they won’t be equipped to be successful.
Of course, you can’t give students everything they want, but who in this world gets everything they want?

Some students and faculty feel a strong disconnect from the university administration. How do you plan on bridging this communication gap?

Well, I love people. I’m an extrovert, and everyone will figure that out quickly. My early plans would be to put myself in the place where students, faculty, staff, and alumni are. I’m likely to walk into a classroom and sit in the back of the room. I’ll pop up. I’ll go to events. At Santa Fe, I show up to concerts, lectures, art galleries, you name it. I can’t go to everything, but I try to be present in that way. Certainly knowing students individually helps. A president has to work with that, because I may not always have access to students on a daily basis.

Students at Santa Fe weren’t used to the kind of a president I am. I would speak to students and they would look at the ground at first, and we’d sit and talk. Today, students are waving at me from 50 yards away. That’s what I hope to accomplish. It’s more of a challenge at a larger university, but that’s where I want some help. I’m going to need the help of students to get where I want to get to.

What’s one thing you would first want to change, work on, or alter on this campus?

I’m hearing that there seems to be a real need for improved communications among different constituencies, communication and input on where the university is going. It’s as if we’re operating in different, discrete orbits. How do you bring those naturally disparate groups into a common ground on campus? What are our roles in that? Everyone has a role in this thing, and to me, that’s the creative part I would want to get at pretty quickly. Everyone has a voice, an opportunity. I think we can improve communication.

What would you like to keep the same?

There’s a wonderful spirit here, strong relationships between faculty and students. Students like the faculty, like the programs; We can build on that. We can do a lot with that.

Regarding diversity č what have you done in the past and what do you plan to do to foster diverse thought and a diverse student body?

I want to model an attitude of inclusiveness, an attitude that is followed up on and practiced, whether in terms of ethnicity or gender, or economic status, the range of different categories. Diversity relates strongly to the process of decision-making. When you have a strong diversity of thought, of opinions, you have to work hard to get to a decision, and that’s good.

What long-term goals do you have for the university, in terms of stature and vision?

[The university] is poised for some exciting achievements. Minnesota is a state that appreciates and values privatized education, which is not the case all around this country. There’s a really important tension between public and private, a good tension, room to develop the roles of both. What I look forward to is figuring out how we can be different and excellent and also be a good colleague with other institutions, like St. Thomas, Concordia, St. Kate’s, and the others. Together, we’re much stronger than we are alone.

I want to also focus on the things that Hamline is doing that aren’t being done elsewhere or, if they are, what we’re doing a bit better, a bit more effectively.