CSU, Chico Selects Larry Hanne as Outstanding Advisor
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 18, 2006
Kathleen McPartland
530-898-4260
CSU, Chico Selects Larry Hanne as Outstanding Advisor
Larry Hanne, Department of Biological Sciences, has been selected as the 2005-2006 Outstanding Advisor. Hanne has served as the academic advisor for students majoring in microbiology since coming to California State University, Chico in 1983.
Hanne received a PhD in 1981 from the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in Dallas. He was a post-doctoral researcher at Oregon Health Sciences University before coming to CSU, Chico.
In addition to working closely with students on curriculum, Hanne also works with local health facilities to place these students in a clinical laboratory setting.
He serves as co-advisor for the biology honors club, Omicron Theta Epsilon. He helped establish the Student Chapter of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and serves as its faculty advisor. He has helped to arrange field trips and accompanies students on these weekend biology adventures.
Over the last 10 years, he has organized five career days for biology/microbiology students. These events allow students to talk with professionals in careers associated with biology, many of them alumni. He holds resume workshops for students, and, "As a result, many students have secured professional positions," said Patricia Edelmann, chair, Department of Biological Sciences.
"Larry and I have worked together as faculty advisors to Omicron for about 17 years now, and what really stands out in my mind is his tireless support of students, their ideas and their many contributions to this long-standing student organization," said Ray Bogiatto, Department of Biological Sciences.
Former student Traci Baptista is currently employed with Butte County Public Health as their senior public health microbiologist. Baptista describes Hanne's availability as both an academic and a career advisor: "Dr. Hanne's office door was always open. As a student, I found myself in his office seeking help when I needed a greater explanation of subject matter."
As a career advisor, he takes his students into the community. "As a student in the Industrial Microbiology course he was teaching, Dr. Hanne took me to the sewage treatment plant and Sierra Nevada Brewery. As a student in medical bacteriology, he took me to the Student Health Services Clinic Lab and to the Butte County Public Health Lab." These experiences helped Baptiste make the decision that she was more suited to public health microbiology than to sewage biology.
Hanne is widely published in scientific journals in his areas of interest: microbial degradation of nitrophenols; biofilm development associated with salmon spawning; molecular characterization of microbial virulence factors; and bacteriophage evolution. He has 11 publications in scientific journals, two in education journals, and another dozen abstracts published with co-authors.
Eleven students have completed their master's degrees under Hanne's guidance and one is working on his master's project now. Other activities Hanne is involved in include the development and maintenance of the Web site for ASM; member of NCASM executive committee; chair national ASM student membership committee, member national ASM membership confirmation committee; and CSU, Chico biology graduate coordinator, from 2001 to the present.