# Arthur Hansen *American philanthropist and former university chancellor and president (1925–2010)* Arthur Gene "Art" Hansen (February 28, 1925 – July 5, 2010) was a philanthropist and university administrator. He led three institutions: Georgia Tech, where he was dean of engineering and then president; Purdue University, which he served as president; and the Texas A&M University System, where he was chancellor.[^1] This article draws on one source, the Wikipedia article on Hansen (revision 1381471292, retrieved October 26, 2026).[^1] None of its facts have been checked against primary records. That source documents no Minnesota official action, filing or statute involving Hansen.[^1] ## Education and early career During his service in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, Hansen was assigned to Purdue University through the Navy's V-12 program.[^1] Purdue awarded him a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1946. He returned two years later and earned a master's degree in mathematics in 1948. While at Purdue he belonged to the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.[^1] For the following decade he did aeronautical research as a scientist at NASA's Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory. In the same years he taught mathematics at John Carroll University and at Baldwin–Wallace College.[^1] Case Institute of Technology granted him a doctorate in mathematics in 1958, and he later received several honorary degrees.[^1] Hansen became a faculty member at the University of Michigan in 1959. There he wrote two fluid mechanics textbooks, although he had never taken a formal course in the subject, and he went on to chair the mechanical engineering department.[^1] He moved to Georgia Tech as dean of engineering and was the Institute's president from 1969 to 1971. During that presidency it built new facilities for chemistry, civil engineering, physics and student activities.[^1] ## Later career From 1971 to 1982 Hansen was Purdue's president, the first of its alumni to hold the office.[^1] According to the source, he sought to rebuild student confidence in the administration after the student unrest of the late 1960s, partly by holding open events at his home near campus. In 1975 a state law gave students a seat on the board of trustees.[^1] Inflation and state budget cuts led him to start long-term private fundraising programs: a newspaper for alumni and parents, a phonathon, and a President's Council of donors who were consulted on university matters. The source credits these measures with helping to pay for new buildings for agriculture, athletics, engineering, life sciences, nursing, psychology and technology.[^1] Hansen left Purdue in 1982 to become chancellor of the Texas A&M University System.[^1] As chancellor he pressed for more minority recruitment and worked to raise the standing of Prairie View A&M University, which the source describes as a historically black member of the system.[^1] The source reports that during his tenure several prominent academics joined the Texas A&M faculty, three of them Nobel laureates. It also reports that the system took on programs to assist inventors, entrepreneurs, and elementary and secondary school administrators.[^1] In 1986 he left the chancellorship for the Hudson Institute, where he was director of research. He also worked as an educational consultant until he retired.[^1] In retirement Hansen lived first in Zionsville, Indiana, and later in Fort Myers, Florida. He died in Fort Myers on July 5, 2010.[^1] ## Legacy Purdue named its Arthur G. Hansen Life Sciences Research Building after him.[^1] On September 24, 2002, Hansen gave Purdue US$1.8 million to build a proscenium theater named for his wife, Nancy Tucker Hansen. She was a writer and teacher, and she died in 2003.[^1] The theater opened in 2006 as part of the Yue-Kong Pao Hall of Visual and Performing Arts and has about 300 seats.[^1] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Arthur Hansen* (revision 1381471292, retrieved 2026-10-26; CC BY-SA 4.0) — biographical account of Hansen's education, academic and administrative career, retirement, death on July 5, 2010, and legacy, including the 2002 US$1.8 million gift to Purdue. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Hansen