Tom Hagen, center, is flanked by Chancellor Ralph Ford, left, and former campus leaders, from left, Dr. Jack Burke, Dr. John Lilley, and Dr. Don Birx
Hagen Awarded Behrend Medallion
The Behrend Medallion, Penn State Behrend’s foremost recognition of an individual who has brought honor to his or her profession and community, has been awarded for only the twentieth time in the college’s seventy-year history.
The Medallion was presented to alumnus Thomas B. Hagen, chairman of the board of Erie Insurance Group companies, by Chancellor Ralph Ford at the Glenhill Appreciation Dinner held in May.
John M. Lilley, former provost and dean of the college, told the audience that when he interviewed for Behend’s leadership position in 1980, Hagen promised to support him in his efforts to grow the institution. “And he surely did,” Lilley said. “Tom understood what Penn State Behrend could become, and as a discerning businessman, he knew the region needed a high-quality public research university, a unique mission for this area.”
Hagen began working at Erie Insurance in the early 1950s, while he was a student at Penn State Behrend. He retired from the company forty years later as chairman and CEO.
From 1995 to 1997, Hagen served as Pennsylvania’s twenty-eighth and last Secretary of Commerce. When the Commonwealth offices were restructured, he became the first Secretary of the Department of Community and Economic Development in the administration of former Gov. Tom Ridge.
Long identified with Erie’s community development and historic building restoration efforts, Hagen is an advisory board member and former officer and director of Preservation Pennsylvania. In 1993, he received the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Institute of Architects’ Honor Award for contributions to the profession by a non-architect. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has honored him with its Preservationist of the Year Award and, in 1997, named him Emissary Plenipotentiary.
“Tom cares deeply about his community, as I’ve seen firsthand in our joint efforts to revitalize downtown Erie through the Erie Downtown Development Corporation,” said Timothy NeCastro, president and chief executive officer of Erie Insurance and board president for the Erie Downtown Development Corporation, a private nonprofit Hagen helped to found. “And he cares deeply about education and learning, as we’ve all seen in his commitment to Penn State Behrend.”
Hagen is a member and past chair of the Penn State Behrend Council of Fellows, a member of the advisory board of the college’s Black School of Business, and the current honorary chair of the Penn State Behrend Campaign Committee. In 1998, he received the designation of Alumni Fellow, the highest individual honor bestowed by the Penn State Alumni Association.
Hagen and his late wife, Susan, endowed what is now called the Susan Hirt Hagen Center for Community Outreach Research and Evaluation, or CORE. An outreach program of the college, CORE conducts research and evaluation of program effectiveness and best practices for healthy youth development.