For years, Bob Hansman has led the School's undergraduate community studies course, Community Building, Building Community, and has had his students work with residents of the 22nd Ward in St. Louis City. He also has taught introductory and advanced drawing and painting classes at all levels of the curriculum. In 2015, Washington University's Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement appointed him as one of its inaugural Community Engagement Faculty Fellows. In this role, he serves as the resident expert on the St. Louis region, providing guest lectures and tours of St. Louis as a "divided city." An accomplished artist, he has held several solo exhibitions of his work in and around the St. Louis area. Hansman is also highly involved in community programs. His work as director of City Faces and the Jermaine Lamond Roberts Memorial Art Studio in the Clinton-Peabody Housing Project has garnered national attention and awards.
In 1997, Hansman was inducted into the Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society. He was a recipient of the Missouri Arts Award in 1997, the Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award for Washington University in 2000, a Founder's Day Distinguished Faculty Award in 2001, the Gerry and Bob Virgil Ethic of Service Award in 2005, a FOCUS St. Louis "What’s Right With the Region" Award in 2008, and the Rosa L. Parks Award for Meritorious Service to the Community in 2010.