Hanson awarded President’s Medal

IU President Michael McRobbie presented Provost and Executive Vice President Karen Hanson with The President’s Medal for Excellence Thursday, making her the award’s 67th recipient since its creation in 1985.

In a speech during Hanson’s farewell program at the IU Auditorium, McRobbie lauded her contributions to “topics of great importance to the campus including undergraduate education and student life,” and recognized her as one of the leading women in the field.

“Karen began her career at a time that was challenging for women in academia,” McRobbie said. “Despite the increase in women who had received doctorate degrees, women were very much underrepresented on the faculties of major research universities.”

Hanson began her career at IU in 1976, where she served as a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy.

“Karen has been a powerful proof of the concept that an eminent scholar and a woman can come up through faculty ranks to be appointed to a vice presidential position at Indiana University,” said Lisa Pratt, Provost’s professor of geological sciences. Pratt was one of five speakers during Thursday’s program.

The President’s Medal for Excellence is one of three medals the president can present.

A reproduction of the president’s jewel of office, worn by the president during special occasions, the medal is awarded in recognition of service to the
University.

Jacobs School of Music Dean Gwyn Richards served as the event’s master of ceremonies, and faculty members Luke Gillespie, Jeremy Allen, Marietta Simpson and Keith McCutcheon performed a couple of Hanson’s favorite musical
selections.

Speakers at the event included McRobbie and Pratt, as well as Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Sonya Stephens and Kelley School of Business Dean Daniel C. Smith.

Fred Cate, director of the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research, was unable to attend the program and prepared a short video. In it, Cate visited areas of campus he said were “touched by Karen.”

The video tour began in her office and moved to the Wells House, where Hanson met with the administration in 2007 and took on her position as provost and executive vice president.

Cate then moved to the Hutton Honors College, where Hanson served as dean from 2002 to 2007. “Karen has been with the University for more than 35 years, but I suspect it is here where her greatest love is found,” Cate said.

The roughly three-minute video drew laughs from the audience, who occupied the auditorium’s center orchestra in suits and ties.

“We could go on to the philosophy department or one of the other places on campus that Karen has touched,” Cate concluded. “But time is short.”
The ceremony concluded after Hanson stepped up to the podium.

On Feb 1., Hanson will begin her term as senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Minnesota, where she received her undergraduate degrees in philosophy and mathematics.

Despite those ties to University of Minnesota, she said she considers IU her alma mater.

“Minnesota is where I grew up, but IU is where I really grew up,” she said. “I grew up, and I realized how incredibly lucky I was to be employed here and to have a life intertwined with this great university ... that gratitude has deepened with every passing day, every year, every decade.”