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Education:

• B.S. 1969 Pharmacy University of Wisconsin-Madison
• M.S. 1976 ContEdu. Pharmacy University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Ph.D. 1978 ContEdu. Pharmacy University of Wisconsin-Madison

Overview

Alan earned his B.S. degree (1969) in pharmacy, and M.S. (1976) and Ph.D. (1978) degrees in continuing education in pharmacy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition, he is licensed as a pharmacist in Wisconsin with experience as a pharmacy practitioner in both community and hospital settings, including a three-year tour of duty as a pharmacist in the U.S. Public Health Service. He joined the U.W.-Madison Pharmacy faculty in 1973 as an instructor in pharmaceutical dispensing and concurrently completed his graduate degrees. In 1979 he began work with Extension Services in Pharmacy at the U.W. School of Pharmacy. He serves as Chair of Extension Services in Pharmacy. His current responsibilities include all phases associated with the planning, development, marketing, administration and evaluation of post-graduate continuing professional education programs at the state, national, and international level for pharmacists as well as personnel within the pharmaceutical industry.

Dr. Hanson is also involved in research as it relates to continuing education, lifelong learning and continuing professional development in pharmacy. His research focuses on methods by which providers of continuing education may better serve as "facilitators" of learning. A major component of this includes the exploration of means by which pharmacists' extent of participation in lifelong learning/continuing professional development may be predicted based on specific learning characteristics; armed with this information, the CE provider should be able to enhance the design of programs to better meet the needs of prospective learners. An additional research component related to the facilitation of lifelong learning focuses on the responsibility/role of schools of pharmacy to prepare pharmacy students to become lifelong learners and adopt the concepts of continuing professional development. The research efforts of Dr. Hanson (and his colleague Dr. De Muth) were recognized by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy which presented them with the Rufus Lyman Award for the best manuscript published in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education during the 1992 calendar year. Dr. Hanson is active in numerous professional organizations in Wisconsin, the U.S., and internationally. He was a recipient in 1991 of the prestigious "Award of Merit" presented by the Section of Continuing Professional Education of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

Dr. Hanson is also involved in research as it relates to continuing education/lifelong learning in pharmacy. His research focuses on methods by which providers of continuing education may better serve as "facilitators" of learning. A major component of this includes the exploration of means by which pharmacists' extent of participation in lifelong learning may be predicted based on specific learning characteristics; armed with this information, the CE provider should be able to enhance the design of programs to better meet the needs of prospective learners. An additional research component related to the facilitation of lifelong learning focuses on the responsibility/role of schools of pharmacy to prepare pharmacy students to become lifelong learners. The research efforts of Dr. Hanson (and his colleague Dr. De Muth) were recognized by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy which presented them with the Rufus Lyman Award for the best manuscript published in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education during the 1992 calendar year.

Dr. Hanson is active in numerous professional organizations in Wisconsin, the U.S., and internationally. He was a recipient in 1991 of the prestigious "Award of Merit" presented by the Section of Continuing Professional Education of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

Work-Related Interests/Research:

Continuing education/lifelong learning/continuing professional development in pharmacy

Highlighted Publications:

• K. W. Kirk and A. L. Hanson, "Challenges and opportunities in lifelong learning: the perspective of pharmacist employers," J. Cont. Educ. Hlth. Prof., in press (1995).
• A. L. Hanson and J. E. De Muth, "A study of pharmacists' behavior as lifelong learners," Amer. J. Pharm. Educ., 56, 335-343 (1992).
• A. L. Hanson, "CEHP providers as learning facilitators: a challenge," J. Cont. Educ. Hlth. Prof., 11, 225-228 (1991).
• A. L. Hanson and J. E. De Muth, "Facilitators and barriers to pharmacists' participation in lifelong learning," Amer. J. Pharm. Educ., 55, 20-29 (1991).