FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan 9, 2008

Contact: Amy Kay, Public Relations Coordinator
(217) 747-9283
akay@hanson-inc.com

Biography of Walter E. Hanson, Springfield business leader and founder of Hanson Professional Services Inc., now available

SPRINGFIELD, Ill.—“From a Kansas Farm to the Engineering Hall of Fame” is a new biography of retired civil and structural engineer Walter E. Hanson, 91, of Springfield, Ill., authored by Janice A. Petterchak of Rochester, Ill.

Hanson is a graduate of Kansas State University (1939) and the University of Illinois (1947). A World War II Naval Officer, Hanson once taught at the University of Illinois and served as a bridge engineer with the Illinois Department of Transportation. He also co-authored “Foundation Engineering,” a textbook that is used by practicing engineers and engineering students throughout the world.

In 1954, he founded W.E. Hanson & Associates, a Springfield, Ill.-based engineering consulting firm. The firm is now Hanson Professional Services Inc., an award-winning firm with a worldwide scope of clients, approximately 450 employees, and 20 offices nationwide.

During his career, Hanson designed numerous buildings, bridges and dams throughout the United States and several foreign countries, including highway bridges in Saudi Arabia and Haiti, and dams and irrigation systems in the Dominican Republic.

Active in state and national professional associations, Hanson has received the American Society of Civil Engineers’ ASCE Honorary Member Award; the Illinois Society of Professional Engineers’ Illinois Award; and the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois’ John F. Parmer Award. In 2006, he was inducted into the Illinois Engineering Hall of Fame.

As a longtime Springfield, Ill., resident, Hanson has been active in a wide variety of state and community organizations and activities, including the Board of Natural Resources and Conservation, Illinois State Water Survey; Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce; Illinois Committee on Higher Education; Kiwanis International, South Springfield Club; Sangamon State University Foundation; and Westminster Presbyterian Church of Springfield. Hanson continues to be a champion of engineering education and professional ethics.

The 310-page book, which includes reprints of several Hanson-authored technical articles, is available for $25 by contacting Betty Lou Hicks at Hanson Professional Services Inc. at (217) 414-7919. Proceeds benefit the Sangamon County Community Foundation, Sangamon County Historical Society, and the Brookens Library at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

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