After 31 years of service to this nation, Mark Hamilton retired as a Major General with the U. S. Army in July of 1998. Just prior to accepting the chief leadership position of the university, Hamilton was in charge of national recruiting during the "Be all that you can be" era.

He was appointed by the University of Alaska Board of Regents as the 12th president of the University of Alaska on August 10, 1998. The president oversees the operations of the University of Alaska system covering an area one-fifth the size of the contiguous United States. The university's 16 campuses across the state, including three urban campuses and a dozen community campuses, enrolls 32,000 students, employs 7,900 faculty, staff and students, and had an operating budget in FY07 of over $798 million.

Hamilton received a bachelor of science degree from the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, a master's degree in English literature from Florida State University, and graduated from the Armed Forces Staff College in Virginia, and the U. S. Army War College in Pennsylvania. As Commander for the U. S. military group in El Salvador, he was largely responsible for negotiating in Spanish an end to the 12-year civil war in El Salvador. In Somalia, his negotiations with warlords resulted in a window of tranquility that enabled the removal of the U. S. 10th Division. In Brussels, he advised the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe on NATO planning concerning the former republic of Yugoslavia. He was twice assigned to Alaska during his military career.

Hamilton is the recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal - the Army's highest peacetime award. He has also received the Armed Forces’ highest peacetime award – the Joint Distinguished Service Medal. The late ABC news anchor Peter Jennings featured Hamilton as a “Person of the Week” highlighting his 1993 negotiation with the Somalia warlords. He was also the recipient of the national Award for Academic Statesmanship and Academic Freedom, presented by the National Association of Scholars, for his outspoken defense of the right of University of Alaska professors to speak, teach and conduct research independently.

President Hamilton serves on the Board of Directors of  Alaska Air Group, Inc.; Member, Board of Directors of Alaska SeaLife Center; Chair, Alaska Distance Education Technology Consortium, Co-Chair, Alaska State Committee on Research (SCoR) and member, Morris Thompson Cultural Center Board.

Hamilton and his wife of 40 years, Patty, have four grown children and seven grandchildren.