The Situation of Jon Hanson
Posted by The Situationist Staff on May 26, 2011
From Harvard Law School Website:
Professor Jon Hanson, the Alfred Smart Professor of Law, is this year’s winner of the prestigious Albert M. Sacks-Paul A. Freund Award for Teaching Excellence, an honor bestowed each spring by the Harvard Law School graduating class. The award recognizes teaching ability, attentiveness to student concerns and general contributions to student life at the law school.
This is the second time Hanson has received the recognition. He won the Sacks-Freund award in 1999, and he was a finalist in 2000 and again in 2006.
Class Marshall Sameer Singh Birring ’12 introduced Hanson at Class Day exercises on May 25. He called Hanson a pioneer in the movement to apply insights from psychology to the analysis of law and policy. A student in Hanson’s Corporations class this spring, he said he found Hanson’s teaching to be transformative. “Jon Hanson impacted my thinking more than any other professor at Harvard and his class changed my life,” he said. “Learning about psychological phenomena and how they affect our choices, our thinking and our policy gave me an entirely new perspective with which to view the law and the greater world around us.”
In his remarks, Hanson talked about his own journey to Harvard Law School. “I wasn’t actually supposed to become a Harvard Law School professor. Just ask anyone who knew me before I was one.”
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Read more here.
Michael McCann said
No one is more deserving of this award than Jon Hanson, a true pioneer in the quest to understand why we think and act the way we do and an outstanding professor. Congratulations!
Tamara Piety said
Wow! Congratulations Jon!!! And what an interesting career trajectory! I thought I might be the only person whose academic career started in community college. It is inspiring to know that I am not and that it is possible to scale great heights + continue to be a fair and caring teacher and human being.
Jon Hanson said
Thanks Mike & Tamara!
Particularly given that are two of the best teachers and most thoughtful scholars in the business, your comments mean a great deal to me.
Happy Summer!
jh
Noah Popp said
Congrats Jon! You certainly deserve it.