F King Alexander

F. King Alexander was named the president of Louisiana State University in 2013. Prior to this appointment, Alexander was president of California State University, Long Beach (2005-2013) one of the nation’s largest public universities located in Southern California. During his more than seven-year tenure at California State University, Long Beach, Alexander was twice named the California State University Student Association, or CSSA, “President of the Year,” which represents all 23 California State Universities and its more than 440,000 students. Prior to becoming president of California State University, Long Beach, Alexander was president of Murray State University in Kentucky (2001-2005) and was a faculty member at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, where he was the director of the graduate higher education program. A Kentucky native who grew up in north Florida, Alexander received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in higher education administration with a focus on finance and educational policy analysis, and a Master of Science degree from the University of Oxford, Oxford, England in comparative educational studies. As a teacher and administrator, Alexander has received many honors, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education Alumni Achievement Award (2002) and has research university faculty affiliations at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for the Study of Postsecondary Education, or WISCAPE, and Cornell University Higher Education Research Institute, or CHERI. Alexander also has been asked to represent public higher education colleges and universities on numerous occasions to the United States Congress on issues of college affordability, student indebtedness and institutional efficiency and effectiveness in efforts to address many of the growing challenges facing American higher education. Due to his national recognition and involvement on higher education issues, Alexander has served on numerous U.S. higher education and statewide organizational leadership boards where he remains very active. Alexander and his wife, Shenette, have three children: Kylie, Savannah and Madison.