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When students think back to a class they had with Andrew Hanna, they remember the long hair and the Dave Matthews Band hat that commonly adorns his head. They might also think of the genuine person he is and how he truly cares about his students.
For Hanna, teaching goes beyond the grading scale. Connecting and engaging with students so that they want to succeed is far more faithful to his personal teaching style.
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln has shaped Hanna's entire life. Even his parents met while working for Nebraska. As a student, he studied abroad in Japan, but nothing was more eventful than the birth of his daughters, Norah and Lily. Becoming a father at a young age tested him, but he had teachers who helped him along the way to make graduating achievable for him.
Now an assistant professor of management, he’s looking back at his time as a Husker to give us a glimpse into what UNL was like when he was a student.
What is your favorite memory from your time as a student?
The school-related memory that stands out most in my mind has to be my experience studying abroad in Japan. I went on the Senshu University study abroad trip in Tokyo, Japan, in 2007, and it was the most fun I had while an undergraduate. I got to go and live with my good friend, Ashley Wallace, whom I’m still good friends with to this day. Spending the semester studying in Japan was a really amazing memory for me.
Outside of school, my daughters, Norah and Lily, were born while I was an undergraduate. Becoming a father was a pretty meaningful memory that is one of my favorites as well, for obvious reasons. Becoming a father at that age and working to finish my undergraduate education tested me a lot, and it is a memory that has benefited me a lot as I have gotten older.
What brought you back to work at your alma mater?
Nebraska has some other special ties for me aside from it being my alma mater, so a lot of things have made Nebraska an ideal place for me to work. My father, Milford Hanna, was a professor in the Biological Systems Engineering department for almost 40 years. He and my mother met while she was working at UNL in the 1970s, and I spent a lot of time around East Campus growing up. I love it in Lincoln and it is a joy to get the opportunity to work at my alma mater and contribute to the experiences of the young people who are attending the same school that I did.
How has campus changed since you were a student?
In about every way imaginable. At this point, it is hard to keep up with what the campuses, the downtown, and the Haymarket areas looked like in the past. There are a ton of new buildings, an expanded stadium, new streets, and several new green spaces that weren’t there when I was young. I also used to go to Husker Kids during the summers at the Coliseum, and we used to go swimming in the basement of Mabel Lee Hall, which is no longer there. Almost everything is different from when I was a kid.
Was there a class, professor or experience that changed your path or shaped who you are today?
This is actually a really cool thing to be able to write about. I had an instructor who undoubtedly changed the trajectory of my life, and now I get to work alongside him as his colleague. Dr. Sam Nelson, who is now the Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, was my undergraduate business strategy professor when he was still a PhD student here. He was very kind to me while I was working to finish my undergraduate degree and had two kids. He just helped make all of it more achievable for me and was a really kind person to me. Years later, we reconnected and he asked if I would be interested in a graduate assistantship to help in the Center while I got my MBA. While working there, I got the chance to help teach entrepreneurship, and I realized I wanted to pivot into higher education and research from then on. So, here I am, and I get to work with Sam every day.
What would your college-age self say if they could see you now, working back on campus?
I’m not sure that my college-age self would believe me if I told them what I was doing today. I suppose that I always felt like I could be doing this as an adult, but I’m not sure I believed that I would actually do it. I was never anti-school or anything like that, but I don’t think I would have believed that I found a way to get through all the hurdles this required in the midst of raising my girls and everything else in life. I think I would largely just be impressed that I found it in me to make it through everything that this life required of me.
What is one piece of advice you’d give a current Nebraska student?
The most important piece of advice would be not to let the days that you spend here pass you by without realizing it. I see so many students in my classes who don’t get to know the people around them and graduate less connected to the people around them than they could be. The people around you are an amazing resource in your life that is very easy to overlook. But, these are the people who will come back to be really valuable to you in weird ways in the future, so be sure to connect with people however you can!
