A Conversation With...
Dr. Alan Hansen

Q: Where did you grow up and how did you get here, (A&M-CC)?

A: I’m originally from Southeastern Idaho. I attended Grace High School in Grace, Idaho, in a town of about 900 people. I attended Boise State University in Boise (the ‘City of Trees’), which is where I met my wife. I earned a Ph.D. at the University of Albany, in Albany, New York in an interdisciplinary program featuring study in Communication and Sociology. I had not finished my dissertation when I applied and came to Texas A & M University-Corpus Christi in 2001. I finished my degree in the summer of 2002. My wife and I, have two children, a six-year-old son and a four-year-old daughter. We also have one child on the way (due in October 2004). I am from a big family of six children – I have three brothers and two sisters. I’m very pleased to be here as I am fluent in Spanish (having learned while living in Argentina as a missionary for my church) and I am interested in diverse cultures. We are happy to be back in the West after living in New York for five years. As a part of my work as a faculty member I serve on the board of directors of The Fighting to Rid Gangs in America Foundation.

Q: What motivates you and has helped you become who you are today?

A: The dedication to my dissertation reads, ‘For my family, without whom completing this project would not have been possible and could not have been worthwhile.’ I believe that all facets of my life are connected; that is, what I do professionally is connected to my personal life, etc. In order to be successful at home or in my research or teaching, I must be successful in the other areas.

Q: What makes you passionate about your field and teaching students?

A: I really believe that the discipline of Communication has something useful to say about social life. It’s a relatively new discipline, and I think we have the capacity to offer to students a way of thinking about the role of communication, and their role also, in the world that is refreshing and useful. During the course of my study I have become passionate about communication.

Q: What course(s) are your favorite to teach?

A: I enjoy teaching “Intercultural Communication” very much. This course is mostly about the role of culture in our lives – sometimes we don’t see ourselves as ‘cultural’ beings – we only see ‘culture in others. I enjoy helping students see ‘culture’ in everyday, mundane processes.

Q: What co-curricular activities are you involved in, and how can students become involved with you in those activities?

A: I am the advisor of a student organization called the Latter-Day Saints Student Association (LDSSA). We put on programs once in a while. We also have a weekly class on campus. Any interested student should contact me. You don't need be a member of the LDS church to attend the organization's class or any event we have, or to join the organization.

Q: Outside of TAMUCC, what extracurricular activities are you involved in; what do you do for fun?

A: I enjoy very much all kinds of sports, such as baseball, softball, and golf. I have three (3) brothers and we play Wiffle ball whenever we can get together. Living in Corpus, I also have come to enjoy going to the beach and the aquarium with my family. At some point I would like to take up fishing, and also learn how to scuba dive.

Q: Who inspired you the most or had the greatest impact during your collegiate experience which directed you to your field of study?

A: There were several people actually that inspired me. Obviously, my parents, who did not go to college but inspired me by being such hard-working people. A professor at Boise State University inspired me by telling me that I should consider getting a Ph.D. and teaching in a University setting – I had never considered myself a candidate for such a career, so it was really his suggestion, which planted a seed (so to speak), that put me on this trajectory. Once I arrived at graduate school my advisor and I became very close, and he helped shape me as a scholar and teacher. One thing that I enjoy about being a professor is to be able to influence students in the way that professors have helped and influenced me. I very much enjoy sitting down with students and helping them find out who they are and who (and what) they would like to be.

Q: What is your greatest achievement and whom do you attribute this to?

A: I would like to say my children. I can’t imagine a greater privilege than being able to bring children into the world. I credit my good wife and then my own father who still lives in Idaho – he was, and continues to be, a great example to me. My father-in-law is a terrific example to me as well. I consider my work as a father to be somewhat similar to my work as a professor – I try to encourage my children (just as I do with my students) to learn, and more importantly to be good citizens and good people.

Q: What question does the study of Communication attempt to answer?

A: There’s so many different types of communication, but the thing that binds the various divisions within the Communication discipline is that we are about understanding and solving practical communication problems. Communication scholarship offers a way to see the world and its problems a little differently than perhaps many other disciplines.

Q: Wouldn’t be caught dead wearing?

A: Anything with the Dallas Cowboys logo on it.