Dr. David Hanson, author of Foundations of Chemistry and a long-time proponent of Process Education, has been recognized for his outstanding educational contributions.

The SUNY Board of Trustees recently approved the appointment of David M. Hanson to the rank of Distinguished Service Professor as recommended by campus colleagues and SUNY Interim Chancellor Dr. John B. Clark. Dr. Hanson is Professor of Chemistry at Stony Brook University where he has served as Chair of the Chemistry Department and Director of Stony Brook’s Learning Communities Program. He is a dedicated teacher and an active researcher and scholar with more than 140 publications to his name. He has received awards from graduating classes of Chemistry majors for excellence in teaching and has pioneered studies of excitons and energy transfer in molecular solids, electric field effects in molecular spectra, and the molecular dynamics associated with core-electron excitation and decay in molecules and solids.

The basis for this appointment is the significant impact Professor Hanson has had in reforming undergraduate education in chemistry through his emphasis on the development of learning-process skills as well as mastery of course content. This work has been carried out at Stony Brook, in the Long Island region, and at both state and national levels. It has impacted high school, college, and university students and faculty, and led to the NSF-supported POGIL National Dissemination Project (Process-Oriented Guided-Inquiry Learning).