Donald E. Hanna and his wife served together in the Peace Corps in Afghanistan
Donald E. Hanna
Professor of Educational Communications, University of Wisconsin-Extension, with a concurrent appointment as Professor of Continuing and Vocational Education at UW-Madison.
I received my doctorate in Adult and Continuing Education from Michigan State University in 1978. My areas of interest and research include learning technologies, distance education, and organizational change. I have been an administrator and teacher at four land-grant universities, and have had the privilege and opportunity to participate in major institutional change efforts at three of these universities.
I grew up in Dighton, Kansas and also in Gove County, Kansas. Those who have traveled west across the state on I-70 would recognize this as the place where you say, "are we ever going to get to Colorado?", or "there's nothing out here but wheat and sky" as you go by a sign that humorously says "ski Kansas." You can check this out on the WWW by going to:
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/kansas/counties/GO/index.html
I have had the opportunity to work and travel internationally. My wife and I served together in both the Teacher Corps in Lackawanna, New York, and the Peace Corps in Afghanistan.
http://www.peacecorps.gov/home.html.
This experience remains a highlight of our lives, and not just because our first child, Jason, was born there. Our Peace Corps service helped to shape us and direct our lives in certain directions and broadened our view of the world. I can talk about this experience forever, so be careful what you ask.
From 1993 to 1997, I served as Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Extension. As Chancellor, my responsibilities included leadership of programs in extension, continuing education, distance education, and public television and radio for the University of Wisconsin System, which is comprised of 13 four-year campuses and 13 two-year centers. Extension programs are conducted on every campus, in every county, and through a variety of instructional technologies, and reach more that one million individuals annually. I helped to provide leadership to a number of distance education initiatives within Wisconsin, including implementation of a statewide compressed video system connecting all four year University of Wisconsin campuses, conceptual development and state funding for the Pyle Center for Distance Education, and expanded use of the internet and web for instructional outreach.
Prior to joining the University of Wisconsin-Extension, I was Associate Vice-Provost for Extended University Services at Washington State University and also Professor of Adult and Continuing Education. From 1983 to 1993, I helped WSU develop its distance education and telecommunications programs and systems designed to extend WSU programs to citizens of the State of Washington. I was Director of Continuing Education and Public Service for the University from 1983 to 1987 and served on a number of statewide planning efforts to improve distance learning efforts in the state.
In 1987, I received a Kellogg National Fellowship to pursue the study of telecommunications policy and applications of telecommunications that benefit developing countries. Through this fellowship I was able to study in India, Russia (the Soviet Union at that time), Indonesia, Thailand, and several countries in South America. In 1989 I received a fellowship from the Annenberg Communications Policy program at Northwestern University, and through this fellowship I spent some time in Washington D.C. studying federal communications policy. In 1990 I co-lead the development of the first global interactive video teleconference in the field of plant biotechnology. This conference linked scientists from many countries throughout the world in a live interactive discussion about the future challenges in this field.
From 1979-1983, I was Head of the Division of Extramural Courses and Assistant Professor of Adult and Continuing Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.