North Dakota University System Chancellor Mark Hagerott will retire at the end of April, according to a Friday announcement.
Hagerott originally planned to step down as chancellor at the end of 2025, then serve a three-year contract as a professor of artificial intelligence and human security for the University System. He told the State Board of Higher Education at a Friday meeting his plans to move his retirement date up.
He will no longer be taking the teaching position, a University System spokesperson confirmed Friday.
In a Friday open letter, the Navy veteran and cybersecurity expert said he was accelerating his retirement to devote himself to national security work.
“In these times of rapid military change, my research and book project with the Naval Institute Press on naval officer formation has been expanded significantly with the emergence of artificial intelligence,” he wrote.
The State Board of Higher Education will meet early next week to figure out next steps for selecting an interim chancellor, according to the announcement.
Hagerott will remain on the Secretary of the Navy’s Education for Seapower Advisory Board, the announcement states.
Hagerott will split his time between Washington, D.C., and North Dakota, and hopes to spend more time at his family farm in Morton County, the release said.
The chancellor took a leave of absence last year to prepare to teach a class on AI and to work on a book.
He has led North Dakota’s 11 public colleges and universities since 2015.
