Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Karen Hanson

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 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was   Keep (non-admin closure) Oo7565 (talk) 20:01, 30 June 2008 (UTC)"

Karen Hanson

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Doesn't seem notable enough. StaticGull Talk  15:50, 26 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Keep. Doesn't seem notable enough?

1 - This article should fall under the scope of the WikiProject Biography and the Science and Academia Work Group.

2 - Hanson's name was already in the article for Indiana University (Bloomington).

3 - There are many other similar biographical articles on Wikipedia of American academic administrators. To cite a few:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Kevin_Dorsey (Dorsey is dean and provost of a school which is a division of Southern Illinois University - which is a much smaller school than Indiana University.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kay (Kay is interim provost at the University of Michigan-Flint.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Alutto (Alutto is the Provost of Ohio State University and is one of Hanson's colleagues in the Committee on Institutional Cooperation - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_on_Institutional_Cooperation)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meredith_Hay (Hay holds the exact same position as Hanson at the University of Arizona).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Freund - a former Provost.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_S._Zeppos

There are also historical articles such as this one about Charles Custis Harrison http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Custis_Harrison - the most notable thing about whom was that he was the provost of an American university.

"Chancellor" is a similar academic position and there are bios of chancellors on Wikipedia (e.g., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Reno).

I could go on like this all day.

4 - Hanson also has numerous highly-regarded publications in the field of philosophy, which I will add to her entry soon.

5 - Her book, The Self Imagined: Philosophical Reflections on the Social Character of Psyche has been cited by numerous authors including Thomas Sebeok (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sebeok) and Hans Joas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Joas), thus meeting the notability standard of secondary source material.

6 - What's more...EVERY football coach in the not-so-illustrious history of Indiana University football has a Wikipedia article. But a chief academic officer does not merit one?

Soonerhoosier (talk) 16:38, 26 June 2008 (UTC)


 *  Delete  Point 1 is only valid IF the subject is in fact notable. Point 2 does not confer personal notability. Points 3 and 6 see WP:Othercrapexists. Points 4 and 5, well every academic publishes so this doesn't set her apart or above in and of itself. G, Gnews, Gscholar and Gbooks searches show she exists but again I'm looking for something to hang notability on. Soonerhoosier's user name and edit hx indicate a narrow focus, I might revise my position if more detached comments indicate a notability I'm missing.Mostly cloudy (talk) 19:35, 27 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Academics and educators-related deletion discussions.   —David Eppstein (talk) 04:16, 28 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Keep. I do not put much stock in administrative positions (at least those below a university President or Chancellor). However, Hanson holds a named chair professorship (Rudy Professor of Philosophy) at a major research university. Named chair appointments are reliable indicators of academic notability. Moreover, in a humanitarian discipline such as Philosophy, they are particularly rare. GoogleBooks also demonstrates a substantial number of mentions related to her work, 152 hits for "Karen Hanson" philosophy. Nsk92 (talk) 05:58, 28 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Keep Agreed that the academic positions by themselves do not prove anything much--though at a major university like this the Provost or equivalent almost always is actually a really unquestionably accomplished scholar, because they need to maintain the respect of the faculty--the essential part of their job is making the final decisions on senior appointments and tenure. But the holder of a named chair at a major research university will always be notable--the judgment of their fellow scholars is how they get there--its the top rank in the academic world. Published academic work is what makes scholars notable. The extent and quality of it is the deciding factor. DGG (talk) 03:55, 29 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Keep Per DGG changing my view on this. Mostly cloudy (talk) 16:41, 30 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Keep per DGG, but I'd be so much happier if this article had encyclopedic content, explaining the impact of her work on her field, rather than focussing on her CV and status within her home institution. Pete.Hurd (talk) 19:18, 30 June 2008 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.