A native of Arkansas, Dr. Hansen received her Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism with a second major in English and a minor in secondary education from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. She received a Master of Science degree in journalism and mass communication from Iowa State University and a Ph.D. in communication with an emphasis in mass communication law and ethics from the University of Kentucky.

Dr. Hansen has worked as a reporter and feature writer for daily newspapers in Arkansas and Louisiana. She also is a freelance writer whose work has been published in newspapers and magazines in Mississippi, Kentucky and elsewhere.

Before coming to Eastern, Dr. Hansen taught at Iowa State University, the University of Southern Mississippi and the University of Kentucky.

At Eastern Dr. Hansen teaches Community Journalism, Media Ethics, Writing and Reporting News I and II, Writing and Selling Nonfiction, Public Affairs Reporting, and Feature Writing.

Dr. Hansen has presented more than a dozen research papers and published several scholarly articles. Her research interests include libel, media ethics, community journalism, and the effects of media on culture and society. She is a frequent speaker before student and professional groups on topics related to her research interests.

Dr. Hansen is in her fourth term as president of the Bluegrass Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. She serves on the national Ethics Committee and Journalism Education Committee of SPJ. She is the journalism education representative on the board of the Kentucky Press Association and serves on the advisory board for the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, a multi-state, multi-institutional program headquartered at the University of Kentucky.

She is also a member of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, College Media Advisers, International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors, National Federation of Press Women, Kentucky Professional Communicators (formerly Kentucky Press Women), Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, Investigative Reporters and Editors, and The Committee of Concerned Journalists.

Dr. Hansen has been a Teaching Fellow in Ethics at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Fla., and a Gannett-AEJMC Teaching Fellow at Indiana University.

She has won more than 50 awards for writing, editing and photography. She received the 2004 Russ Metz Most Valuable Member Award from the Kentucky Press Association for her work on a statewide public records audit. She is listed in Who’s Who in the Media and Communications and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Beta Phi and Kappa Tau Alpha honor societies.