Rate My Professor F. King Alexander

F. King Alexander is a Professor of Educational Leadership in the Department of Leadership, Counseling, and Human Development at Florida Gulf Coast University within the field of Education. He earned a Ph.D. in Higher Education Policy and Leadership from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1996, an M.Sc. in Educational Studies and Comparative Education Policy from the University of Oxford in 1991, and a B.A. in Political Science from St. Lawrence University in 1987. Alexander has held distinguished leadership roles as president of four major public universities: Oregon State University from 2019 to 2021, Louisiana State University from 2013 to 2020, California State University, Long Beach from 2005 to 2013, and Murray State University from 2001 to 2005. Earlier in his career, he served as Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Higher Education Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1997 to 2001, Lecturer and Research Assistant at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1995 to 1997, and Director of Annual Development Programs at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro from 1991 to 1992.

Alexander's research focuses on education finance, policy, and law. He has authored and co-authored key books such as The Law of Schools, Students and Teachers, Seventh Edition (West Academic Law Publishing, 2022), Financing Public Schools: Theory, Policy and Practice (Routledge, 2015), Maximizing Revenue in Higher Education (Jossey-Bass, 2002), and The University: International Expectations (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2002). His peer-reviewed articles include works in the Journal of Education Finance on federal funding impacts and student aid policies, such as "The Impact of Federal Funding on State Budget Priorities" (2023) and "Hard Educational Policy Lessons from Fifty Years of Federal Direct Student Aid Policies" (2022). He serves as Higher Education Editorial Board Director for the Journal of Education Finance (University of Illinois Press and Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020-present) and Senior Faculty Fellow at the University of Alabama Education Policy Center (2022-present), as well as Faculty Affiliate at Cornell University Higher Education Research Institute since 1998. Among his honors are the Stephen J. Trachtenberg Award for Leadership in Higher Education (2017), California State University President of the Year (2011-2012 and 2009-2010), and Alumni Hall of Fame inductee by Boys and Girls Clubs of America.