Hamline president to retire in 2015
This announcement just in from Hamline University:
HAMLINE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT LINDA HANSON TO RETIRE IN JUNE 2015
Hamline University President Linda Hanson has announced her plan to retire, effective June 30, 2015, at which time she will have completed 10 years of dedicated service to Hamline University.
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Under President Hanson’s leadership, the university has moved forward in several strategic areas. In the past nine years, Hamline launched its School of Business and competitive MBA program; developed and opened a second campus serving students in the West Metro Twin Cities; created and successfully marketed several new academic programs; achieved recognition as the top-ranked private law school in Minnesota; and maintained recognition as the top-ranked regional, comprehensive university in Minnesota.
“Hamline is an incredible university that I have had the privilege and pleasure to lead. The opportunity to engage with students, help support their dreams on their journey toward gaining an education, and starting or advancing a career are the enduring memories I will take with me when I retire next year,” said President Linda Hanson. “Hamline’s special community of teachers and students which sets us apart as a place where learning occurs in traditional and serendipitous ways, in robust places and quiet places, supported by staff who genuinely care and who go the extra mile every day—that is the Hamline I’ve been honored to lead and the experiences I will cherish.”
A 20-year master campus plan was also developed under President Hanson’s leadership, to chart the physical development for the university, anchored by the design and construction of Hamline’s stunning Carol Young Anderson and Dennis L. Anderson University Center, which opened its doors in 2012. President Hanson leaves the university in good financial condition, with more than $70M raised over the past nine years and the university’s endowment at $90M, an all-time high.
“President Hanson has been an extraordinary leader for Hamline during a time of great challenge and change in the economy, and she has successfully navigated the university through it,” said Hamline Board of Trustees Chairman Bob Klas, Jr. “What strikes me as President Hanson’s single most important contribution to Hamline has been the role that she’s taken on as a visionary and a catalyst to align the university’s people and programs—from being schools and areas that operate in silos to helping all of us realize Hamline’s potential as a comprehensive, collaborative university.”
Hamline’s Board of Trustees will begin the national search for a new president in the coming weeks.
Creativity and innovation in teaching and learning are the hallmark of Hamline University—home to more than 4,500 undergraduate, graduate, and law students. At Hamline, students collaborate with professors invested in their success. They are challenged in and out of the classroom to create and apply knowledge in local and global contexts, while cultivating an ethic of civic responsibility, social justice, and inclusive leadership and service. Hamline is the top-ranked private university of its class in Minnesota, according to U.S. News & World Report. Founded in 1854, Hamline also is Minnesota’s first university and among the first coeducational institutions in the nation.