HCC pays tribute to Professor Don Hanover, 1965-2021
In a 1980 homage to George Frost HCC’s first president, David Bartley ‘54 (HCC’s second president), wrote that Frost’s “special presence” made him realize what a great teacher could mean in the life of a college student.
On Thurs., May 5, 2022, on the same day HCC celebrated its 75th anniversary, HCC faculty, staff, students, alumni, friends, and family members gathered for a more somber occasion – to remember and honor HCC philosophy professor Donald Hanover, who died in 2021 after a long battle with cancer.
Professor Hanover was an integral member of the HCC community for 22 years. Fittingly, HCC’s Department of Critical Social Thought created a book award and scholarship in his honor titled “The Donald Hanover Revolutionary Award.” And on that day in May, a tree, plaque, and two benches were dedicated in his memory, not far from the gardens where Professor Hanover used to dig in the dirt alongside students from the honors course he co-taught, The Politics of Food: Philosophy of Sustainable Agriculture.
Like George Frost and so many others, Hanover was himself a “special presence” who left an indelible mark. Who better to express all that he meant to HCC than his students?
– CHRIS YURKO
“I’m a non-traditional student, so getting back into school after 20 years of work was intimidating. And Don comes right at you. I was impressed with him, and curious as well. His intellect made me curious, and his obvious dedication to his students made me curious to see more of what higher education has to offer. He had the rare ability to be both extremely kind and furious at the same time, which also kept me curious. He was a passionate intellectual. He taught me how to how to read more closely. He taught me how to be a better critical thinker. He taught me how to see an argument from multiple different perspectives and how to attack it from different perspectives. He taught me how to be a better writer. He inspired me to read books I had never heard of. He inspired me to take my education more seriously. And he inspired in me a deeper love of philosophy. I think that teaching can make you a good professor. But a great professor is one that inspires you, and Professor Don Hanover inspired me.”
Shawn Mitchell ’23
“My first class with Don, Keeping Up with the Times, was the primary reason I transferred to HCC, and it was the first class I’d ever taken that literally brought me to tears. But it also pushed me to become a better thinker, a better student, a better person all around. We all knew Professor Hanover was clever, sharp, and he had little patience for half-baked ideas. Everyone who passed through Donahue has heard Don on the other side of the building, ranting about some untenable political position or some world event. And those who passed by his office knew he always had a line of students out the door. It’s no wonder people in facilities put a couple chairs by the end of his hall. Don’s section of Donahue is now uncharacteristically quiet. No more queues of students to see, no random outbursts to hear, no funny memes on his office door. Through sickness, he was there for his students, always without complaining, always with a smile.”
Matt Medina ’18
“Don was truly a revolutionary character in my life, not in the sense of armaments or anything physical like that, but a revolution of the mind. And when I came back to HCC in 2018, I was going through a period in my life where I needed a revolution of the mind, and he opened the doors of possibility for me and new ways of thinking that I desperately needed. On the way up here, I was actually listening to a song that I had once asked him about. It’s a song by Grace Slick and Paul Kantner, “Flowers of the Night,” and the tune talks about revolution. I didn’t know that he knew the song. I had sent him the lyrics and asked him to explain it to me, and he said that he had spent many an afternoon listening to that song, and my heart smiled. So, I listened to that song on the way up here today. I thought about him, and I thought about the refrain: plants that cannot bloom by day must flower in the night. You know, we all have a place here. Just because there might be an expectation that we are to do certain things a certain way doesn’t mean that that’s actually our role. Don helped me see that.”
Joe Impoco ’15, ’20
