After completing an associate degree at Ricks College, Nels Hansen earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He finished a doctorate degree in Agronomy from Texas A&M University. He was hired by Ohio State University as a faculty member, where he served for eight years before coming to BYU-Idaho in 2013.
"The Connection between Ministering and Exaltation" (BYU-Idaho Devotional, July 17, 2018)