Sandra Sellers Hanson earns Francis Andrew March Award

Sandra Sellers Hanson, retired English teacher and former Clarion resident, said her love for literature was first sparked at the Wall Lake #2 schoolhouse, just a mile down the road from her family’s farm. She was taught for eight grades by the Abbott sisters there. “That’s when I first encountered excellence in teaching,” Hanson said.

Hanson would go on to attend Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, and graduate school at the University of Wisconsin. “I was in love with reading literature, and discussing it, and writing about it. It was what I wanted to do,” she said. From 1964 to 2013,she taught English and literature at colleges on both coasts, and from 2013-2016, served on the Modern Language Association’s ADE (Association of Departments of English) Committee. On January 7, the ADE presented her with the prestigious Francis Andrew March Award, which recognizes outstanding teachers of English. In her award acceptance speech, Hanson gave homage to those teachers who first helped spark her love for reading.

The award came as a shock to Hanson. “I had known some of the previous winners, and they were people who had really amazingly outstanding careers, and were very much leaders in their own disciplines, whether it was literature or the teaching of writing,” Hanson said. “I thought, ‘Oh my, I’m not sure I’m in that category.’”

The ADE Committee disagreed. “We honor her for her unswerving integrity and forcefulness as a teacher and administrator who devoted her career to the community college,” their statement on the award read.

For the full story, see the January 19 edition of the Monitor.