Departmental Seminars - Seminar Series: Hansen

The R. Gaurth Hansen Seminar Series

HansenThe Hansen Seminars honor the memory of R. Gaurth Hansen, a respected biochemist, who devoted much of his career to the improvement of Utah State University.  Dr. Hansen was born in Cache Valley, the site of USU, in 1920.  He attended the University of Wisconsin where he earned his BS in chemistry, and MS and PhD degrees in biochemistry.

Dr. Hansen spent two years as an Assistant Professor at the University of Utah College of Medicine followed by seven years as Associate Professor in the Biochemistry Department of the University of Illinois.  In 1957, he moved to Michigan State University where he served eleven years as Chairman of the Biochemistry Department.  Dr. Hansen returned to Cache Valley and Utah State University in 1968 where he served for sixteen years as Academic Vice President, and Distinguished Professor of Nutrition and Food Sciences and Chemistry & Biochemistry.  He was instrumental in improving the instruction and research activities of the University, and presided over a twenty-fold increase in the University’s research budget.   Dr. Hansen became USU Distinguished Professor Emeritus in 1985.

During his career, Dr. Hansen published more than 100 articles in professional journals, and more than 20 books and book chapters.  He was a Fellow of the American Institute of Nutrition, and received the Sesquicentennial Award from the University of Michigan, and the Borden Award from the American Institute of Nutrition, and was a Resident Scholar at the Rockefeller Study and Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy.  He served his country on the Food and Nutrition Board, the American Medical Association Council on Foods and Nutrition, the National Nutritional Consortium.  He further Chaired a Nutrition Study Section of the US Public Health Service, and acted as Consultant to the Army  Medical Research and Development Command, and Interdepartmental Committee on Nutrition for National Defense.  Dr. Hansen had vast international experience, as a consultant to the US Public Health Service and Kellogg Foundation, wherein he reviewed health and nutrition status in Turkey, Ecuador, Thailand, Venezuela, and Nigeria, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Brazil. Dr.

Hansen married Anna Lou Rees in 1943 and they had three children together, Roger, Ted, and Lars.

 The R. Gaurth Hansen Seminar Series was made possible by a generous endowment initiated by Dr. William Rutter, co-founder and former Chairman of the Board of the Chiron Corporation.