Franklin Pierce University
private, non-profit university in Rindge, New Hampshire
Franklin Pierce University is a private university in Rindge, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded as Franklin Pierce College in 1962, combining a liberal arts foundation with coursework for professional preparation.
The school gained university status in 2007 and is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). It has an enrollment of 1,400 students and overlooks Pearly Pond, a few miles from Mount Monadnock. The campus covers approximately 1,200 acres (4.9 km2). Peter Eden has been president of Franklin Pierce University since 2024. The school also operates the College of Graduate and Professional Studies with campuses in Manchester, New Hampshire and Lebanon, New Hampshire, and Goodyear, Arizona. The college at Rindge houses three institutes: the Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication; the Monadnock Institute of Nature, Place, and Culture; and the New England Center for Civic Life.
History
The school was founded by Frank S. DiPietro in 1962 as Franklin Pierce College, named after Franklin Pierce, the 14th president of the United States and the only U.S. president from New Hampshire. The school opened its doors to its first set of students in the winter of 1963.
The public source identifies “Franklin Pierce University” as private, non-profit university in Rindge, New Hampshire. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Franklin, Pierce and University.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5491762. Authority coordinates are 42.782, -72.057. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1962, 2007, 2024 and 1963.
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This entry incorporates text from “Franklin Pierce University” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.