Frank John Esposito (born June 9, 1941) is an American academic administrator and political candidate. He is the Distinguished Service Professor of History at Kean University in

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. In the 2009 New Jersey gubernatorial race, Esposito was named by independent candidate

Chris Daggett Christopher Jarvis Daggett (born March 7, 1950) is an American businessman who is the president and CEO of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, one of the largest foundations in New Jersey. A former regional administrator of the United States En ...

as his running mate Lieutenant Governor.

Early life and education

Esposito was born on June 9, 1941 in

Ocean City, New Jersey Ocean City is a city in Cape May County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is the principal city of the Ocean City metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Cape May County and is part of the Philadelphia- Wilmington- Camden, ...

. He received

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

and

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degrees from Glassboro State College (now

Rowan University Rowan University is a public research university in Glassboro, New Jersey, with a medical campus in Stratford and medical and academic campuses in Camden. It was founded in 1923 as Glassboro Normal School on a site donated by 107 residents. ...

). He earned a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in American history from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

in 1976.

Career

In 1970, Esposito first joined Kean University (then Newark State Teachers College), when he became an assistant professor of educational arts and systems for the College of Education. After receiving his Ph.D. from Rutgers, he was promoted to assistant dean. He later became acting dean for three years. In 1984, he became vice president for Academic Affairs. After working on a national study to evaluate

school choice School choice is a term for education options that allow students and families to select alternatives to public schools. The most common in the United States, by both the number of programs and by the number of participating students are scho ...

systems, Esposito returned to Kean as a full-time history professor in 1990. He became the first dean of the Nathan Weiss Graduate College in 1998. In March 2002, Esposito was elected to serve as interim university president while a search was conducted for a permanent president. When Dawood Farahi was chosen, Esposito returned to teaching in the Department of History. He was named interim dean of the College of Education in 2006, serving until 2008. On July 27, 2009, independent gubernatorial candidate

Christopher Daggett Christopher Jarvis Daggett (born March 7, 1950) is an American businessman who is the president and CEO of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, one of the largest foundations in New Jersey. A former regional administrator of the United States En ...

named Esposito as his running mate. If elected, Esposito would be the first

Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey The lieutenant governor of New Jersey is an elected constitutional officer in the executive branch of the state government of New Jersey in the United States. The lieutenant governor is the second highest-ranking official in the state governm ...

. Since Daggett qualified for matching funds, Esposito was eligible to participate in the televised Lieutenant Governor debate with Republican candidate

Kim Guadagno Kimberly Ann Guadagno (; ''née'' McFadden; born April 13, 1959) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the first lieutenant governor and 33rd secretary of state of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. Guadagno was the Republican nominee ...

and Democratic candidate

Loretta Weinberg Loretta Weinberg (born February 6, 1935) is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as a member of the New Jersey Senate from 2005-2022, where she represented the 37th Legislative District. She also served as Senate Majority Leader. ...

, held on October 8, 2009.

Personal life

Esposito lives in Ocean Township with his wife, Sherry. He is registered as an independent.

Published works

Esposito has published seven books: * ''Travelling New Jersey'' (Wise, 1978) * ''Madison: An Intimate History of A Community in Transition'' (Compton, 1985) * ''Public School Choice: National Trends and Initiatives'' (NJ Dept. of Education, 1989) * ''Ocean City, NJ'', two volumes, co-author, (Arcadia, 1996, 1998) * ''Victorian New Jersey'' (Kean University Press, 2005) * ''Manhattan's Musical Heritage'', co-author, (Arcadia, 2005)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Esposito, Frank J. 1941 births Living people People from Ocean City, New Jersey People from Ocean Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey Rowan University alumni Rutgers University alumni 21st-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Heads of universities and colleges in the United States New Jersey Independents Historians from New Jersey 21st-century American male writers