George J. Hagerty, president of Franklin Pierce College, has been elected chair of the Division II Presidents Council, replacing Kay Schallenkamp of Emporia State University, whose term will expire at the end of the 2004 NCAA Convention.

Hagerty has been a member of the Presidents Council since January 2002, representing Region 1.

Hagerty assumed his current responsibilities at Franklin Pierce in May 1995. He has broad experience in higher education, government and business.

He began his career as an official in the U.S. Department of Education, where he eventually reached the level of chief of compliance and enforcement in the Office of Special Education Programs. He later returned to his alma maters, Stonehill College and Harvard University, as a faculty member and administrator. At Stonehill, Hagerty also led academic-development efforts and was subsequently appointed director of corporate, foundation and government relations.

Before accepting the presidency at Franklin Pierce, he served as corporate vice-president of TCI/Taylor, Hagerty and Associates, a legislative-consulting firm based in Washington, D.C.

Under Hagerty's leadership, Franklin Pierce was the recipient of the 1997 Templeton Award for Character-Building Colleges.

In the last five years, Franklin Pierce has established three academic institutes: the Monadnock Institute of Nature, Place and Culture; the New England Center for Civic Life; and the Center for Applied Public Opinion Research.

The institution also has created its first graduate programs and has successfully completed its first capital campaign, which contributed to the creation of the Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication, the renovation and upgrading of the Frank S. DiPietro Library, and the strengthening of the college's scholarship endowment.

Hagerty has written several scholarly articles, book chapters and policy papers on education, finance and a variety of social issues. He has served both Democratic and Republican Administrations as a commission member and counsel. Among his current governing-board appointments are service on the board of directors of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, the Commission on Leadership and Institutional Effectiveness of the American Council on Education, the board of directors of the New England Council, and the board of trustees of Tuition Plan, Inc., the national prepaid tuition program for private colleges and universities.