Larry "Hank" Hankla

B.S. ’68 – Sociology

Larry "Hank" Hankla from Boise City, Oklahoma, came to OSU in the fall of 1964 where he immediately plunged himself into campus activities. He was elected to the student senate, was named a Top Five Sophomore, and earned a spot in the Blue Key Honor Society. He was active in numerous musical groups and in the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

Following graduation in May 1968 with a bachelor’s in sociology, Hank worked for U.S. Senator Mike Monroney (D-OK) and then for U.S. Senator Fred R. Harris (D-OK). He received his law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1973 and became a member of both the Oklahoma and the District of Columbia Bars.

After graduation from Georgetown, Hank became one of the initial Clean Air Enforcement attorneys at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Following government service, he practiced law in Washington, D.C., until 1997, when he retired and became an elementary school math teacher.

In 2010, Hank retired from teaching and moved to Durham, North Carolina, with his wife, Judith Hammerschmidt. Even in retirement, Hank continues to teach math at the Emily K Center and plays trumpet with the Durham Community Concert Band and the New Horizons Swing Band.

Hank is vice chairman of the Dambach Peacekeepers Fellowship Founders’ Council, which awards a $10,000 per year scholarship to an outstanding graduate student in OSU’s School of Global Studies.

Hank and Judith have two children — David of Berkley, California, and Elizabeth of Durham, North Carolina — and two grandchildren.