Provost Peggy Agouris sent the following message to the campus community on Feb. 25, 2026. – Ed.
Dear colleagues,
I write with great sadness to share the news that Gregory S. Hancock (Greg), Professor Emeritus of Geology, died in January. He was a warm and generous person and a brilliant scientist who impacted so many people positively as a teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend.
Prof. Hancock earned a B.A. in Geology in 1989 from Middlebury College in Vermont and then spent three years as a Project Manager for a groundwater engineering firm in Massachusetts. He went on to the University of California in Santa Cruz to complete his M.S. and Ph.D. in Earth Sciences, where he became a world-class field geologist and expert in landscape evolution.
After graduation, he joined William & Mary as a hydrologist; and his scholarship and steady leadership enriched the intellectual life of the university for decades. He developed a new Groundwater Hydrology course and took over teaching Earth Surface Processes. He also taught nearly a dozen other courses, including Numerical Modelling, Introductory Geology, Rivers over Rock, Environmental Geology, Watershed Dynamics, and Regional Field Geology, among others. Prof. Hancock’s inspiring teaching was widely recognized with numerous awards, including the Biggs Award for Excellence in Earth Science Teaching from the Geological Society of America, the Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence at W&M, and the Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Award.
His research ranged from the “big picture” forces that build mountains and shape continents to the up-close physics of how rivers grind into solid bedrock and carve the landscapes we live in. He cared deeply about the societal relevance of his work that tested whether engineered retention ponds in urbanized areas actually reduced flooding and managed runoff as they were designed to do. He found that they do not, which has helped communities, including Williamsburg, make more sustainable decisions about stormwater management, soil preservation, and urban development.
Prof. Hancock contributed to William & Mary in countless ways beyond the classroom. He served as an academic and research advisor to generations of undergraduate students, shared his wise counsel and dry wit in the department and beyond, and served on numerous committees including the A&S Faculty Affairs Committee, Committee on Honors and Interdisciplinary Studies, the Commonwealth Center for Energy and Environment Steering Committee, the Environmental Sciences/Studies Advisory Board, and many others. He served as Chair of the Geology Department, the A&S Faculty Affairs Committee, and the Environmental Science & Policy Program’s Committee. He played a leading role in establishing the Center for Geospatial Analysis and served as Chair of their Steering Committee for many years.
Prof. Hancock will be remembered fondly for his love of teaching and virtually everything about the outdoors, from birding, beekeeping, and gardening, to photography, hiking, and running. He is survived by his daughter, Meghan Hancock, his wife, Sarah Stafford, CSX Professor of Economics & Public Policy at William & Mary, his mother, Lynda Gray, and his father and stepmother, Robert and Susan Dick. An endowment at W&M has been set up in his honor.
W&M Geology and the broader Geomorphology community will miss him dearly. A celebration of life is planned to take place at the Keck Environmental Lab on Saturday, May 23, 2026.
Sincerely,
Peggy