Hanson, Susan (1943-)

Susan Hanson is one of the most accomplished academics in U.S. geography today. During her long and productive career, she became a major researcher of urban labor markets and urban transportation and a founder of American feminist geography. Her accomplishments are also widely recognized. A past Guggenheim Fellow, she is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Hanson is the first female geographer elected to both academies in 2000.

Hanson's half-century-long career in geography began once she discovered the field as an undergraduate student in Middlebury College (1960–1964), thanks to an outstanding geography professor. After spending several years in Kenya as a Peace Corps volunteer, she earned a PhD in geography from Northwestern University (1967–1973). After earning ...