Hanson Annex

The Hanson Annex, a 17,000 square foot addition to the Taggart Law Library, was named in honor of Dr. Eugene Nelson Hanson, former Dean of the Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law and professor.

Contractors for the project included Thomas & Marker Construction Co. of Bellfontaine, Ohio as general contractor. Ohio Plumbing and Electric of Celina handled the HVAC work while fire protection was provided by Globe Sprinkler, Inc. of West Milton, Ohio.  The architect was Richard E. Heffelbower of Lima, Ohio.

The new addition was opened for classes in the fall of 1982 and dedicated  Saturday, May 5, 1985

The annex nearly doubled the size of the law library and included faculty offices, a room for searching legal databases, a student study room, a microforms room, numerous study carrels and an office for the law review. It was connected to the north side of the existing library and was part of a major renovation to the Tilton Hall of Law.

Biography

Eugene Hanson was born in Iola, Wisconsin on September 27, 1917, the son of Harris Gilbert and Delia (Nelson) Hanson. He received a BA degree from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa in 1939 and an MA and J.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1940 and 1946 respectively. He earned an LL.M. in 1948 at the University of Michigan.

Dean Hanson was admitted to the Wisconsin bar in 1946 and the Ohio bar in 1954.

Professor Hanson joined the ONU law faculty in 1947, and for fifteen years, 1958 to 1973, he was dean of the college of law. In June 1950 he married Katie Lou Craft.

Following his resignation as dean, he served as a visiting professor at the McGeorge School of Law in California before returning to Ohio in the fall of 1976. He resumed teaching at Ohio Northern until his retirement in 1984.  

Dean Hanson established a unique program in 1960 when in returning from a Fulbright lecturer at the University of Iceland School of Law. The Icelandic Exchange Program is an intercultural exchange; where each year law students travel to Iceland. In turn law students from Iceland annually visit the ONU College of Law to participate in a intensive seminar on the legal and judicial processes of Ohio.  Periodically, Iceland law students attend the ONU  College of Law for a semester for a more detailed legal exchange of law.

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Dean Eugene Hanson