He is an emeritus professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.
[1] He then received a Kellett Fellowship to study at the University of Oxford.
[1] From 1961 to 2004, Hanning taught English and comparative literature at Columbia.
[4] Hanning taught at the Bread Loaf School of English and directed the program at Lincoln College, Oxford in 1980, 1984, 1986.
[6][7] He was elected a fellow of the Medieval Academy of America and a trustee of the New Chaucer Society.