Susan E. Hanson (born March 31, 1943) is an American

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

. She is a Distinguished University Professor Emerita in the Graduate School of Geography at

Clark University Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research universities in the ...

. Her research has focused on gender and work, travel patterns, and feminist scholarly approaches.

Career

Hanson studied as an undergraduate at

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

between 1960 and 1964, subsequently working with the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F. ...

in Kenya. She studied for a PhD at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

between 1967 and 1973. Hanson was awarded

tenure Tenure is a category of academic appointment existing in some countries. A tenured post is an indefinite academic appointment that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances, such as financial exigency or program disco ...

at the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 18 ...

, where she worked in the geography and sociology departments between 1972 and 1980. She moved to Clark in 1981. She is a past president of the

American Association of Geographers The American Association of Geographers (AAG) is a non-profit scientific and educational society aimed at advancing the understanding, study, and importance of geography and related fields. Its headquarters is located in Washington, D.C. The ...

(then known as the Association of American Geographers) and has been the editor of four geography journals: ''

Urban Geography Urban geography is the subdiscipline of geography that derives from a study of cities and urban processes. Urban geographers and urbanists examine various aspects of urban life and the built environment. Scholars, activists, and the public have ...

'', ''

Economic Geography Economic geography is the subfield of human geography which studies economic activity and factors affecting them. It can also be considered a subfield or method in economics. There are four branches of economic geography. There is, primary secto ...

'', the ''

Annals of the Association of American Geographers Annals ( la, annāles, from , "year") are a concise historical record in which events are arranged chronologically, year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record. Scope The nature of the distinction between ann ...

'', and ''

The Professional Geographer ''The Professional Geographer'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal publishing short articles on all aspects of geography. The journal is published by Taylor and Francis on behalf of the American Association of Geographers. According to t ...

''. Victoria Lawson has argued that Hanson's career "is an empowering example of a collage of woven-together life experiences, substantive research interests, feminist values and progressive professional practices". In 2010, Marianna Pavlovskaya wrote that Hanson "is one of the most accomplished academics in U.S. geography today".

Honors and awards

Hanson was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

in 1989, was made a fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

in 1991, and in 1999 received the Van Cleef Memorial Medal from the

American Geographical Society The American Geographical Society (AGS) is an organization of professional geographers, founded in 1851 in New York City. Most fellows of the society are Americans, but among them have always been a significant number of fellows from around the ...

, a medal conferred on scholars in the field of

urban geography Urban geography is the subdiscipline of geography that derives from a study of cities and urban processes. Urban geographers and urbanists examine various aspects of urban life and the built environment. Scholars, activists, and the public have ...

. In 2000, she became the first female geographer to be elected to both the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

and the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

. At the 2008 Association of American Geographers conference, three panels were dedicated to honouring her contribution to the discipline, and five of the papers presented were subsequently published as a themed section of an issue of '' Gender, Place & Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography''. She was awarded the 2015 Stanley Brunn Award for Creativity in Geography by the American Association of Geographers, which also awarded her Lifetime Achievement Honors in 2003. She is the chair of the Transportation Research Board's (TRB) Division Committee, representing TRB as an ex officio member on the NRC Governing Board.

Selected publications

Books

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Articles

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References

External links

Clark University profile page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanson, Susan American geographers Clark University faculty Women geographers 1943 births Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Presidents of the American Association of Geographers Living people Urban geographers University at Buffalo faculty