Hansens to be honored at JC commencement ceremony

Jamestown College will award the honorary degree Doctor of Humanities to Gordon and Charlotte Hansen of Jamestown during the Commencement ceremony on May 8.

As strong and dedicated supporters of Jamestown College, Gordon and Charlotte (Helgeson) Hansen have provided leadership to the College as Trustees for 41 years.

They have been instrumental in the growth of Jamestown College in many ways, providing the lead gift to renovate the Memorial Gymnasium (now known as the Hansen Center) in 1993.

Charlotte Hansen has been a member of the Jamestown College Board of Trustees since 1980 and will be named a Trustee Emerita at the Commencement ceremony. A 1944 graduate of the University of Minnesota, she was the Vice President and Food and Travel Editor of the Jamestown Sun, a hematologist at Hanford Engineering Works and an instructor of microbiology and laboratory biology at Jamestown College. She is a member of Zonta, AAUW and Jamestown Chamber of Commerce. She has received many awards including the Outstanding Citizen Award of Jamestown, the North Dakota Outstanding Woman in Community Service Award, Jamestown College Alumni Hall of Fame inductee and the North Dakota Mother of the Year. She was the first woman president of the Jamestown Rotary and the Jamestown Chamber of Commerce.

Gordon Hansen, the only remaining Jamestown College overseer, served on the College’s Board from 1969-1980 and has been designated a trustee emeritus. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business from George Washington University. He has been active in the Jamestown Masonic Lodge, the El Zagals, and United Way. The Hansens owned and operated The Jamestown Sun for 44 years. One of Gordon Hansen’s most recent gifts to Jamestown College was his efforts in scrapbooking all of Jamestown College’s appearances in The Jamestown Sun since The Sun’s inception. These are available in the college archives.

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