Prior to attending Purdue in 1946, Arthur G. Hansen was in the United States Marine Corps, and he continued to serve as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserve while completing his BSEE and his MS. In 1948 Hansen began work as an aeronautical research scientist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in Cleveland, Ohio. His career path led him to head the Nucleonics Section of the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory and then to be professor and head of the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Michigan. He became dean of engineering at Georgia Tech and later was named president of the university.

In 1971, Hansen returned to Purdue as president. After ten years as president, he resigned to become chancellor of the Texas A&M System. In 1987, Hansen returned to Indiana to be director of research for the Hudson Institute.

Hansen is an educational consultant currently acting as advisor to the Ministry of Education and Research of the United Arab Emirates. He is also currently chairman of the Board of Directors with the Corporation for Educational Technology and a member of the Board of Directors for the Indianapolis Symphony.

Hansen is the author of two engineering textbooks and more than fifty papers. A Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science, he received the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medal for Public Service in 1985. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and was named Engineer of the Year in Atlanta in 1970 and in Indiana in 1979. He was named a Purdue Distinguished Engineering Alumnus in 1982 and received an honorary doctorate from the university in 1970.