Laurence Alexander has been named chancellor of the University of Michigan at Flint. He will assume his new position on July 1.
The Flint campus of the University of Michigan enrolls about 4,600 undergraduate and 1,400 graduate students. Black students represent 13 percent of the undergraduate population.
For the past 11 years, Dr. Alexander has served as chancellor of the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff. In 2022, President Biden appointed Dr. Alexander as chair of the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development. His appointment marks the first time the board has been chaired by a leader from an 1890 land-grant, historically Black university.
Prior to his current positions, Dr. Alexander spent more than two decades with the University of Florida. He held both administrative and faculty roles such as professor, provost administrative fellow, associate dean of the graduate school, director of the Office of Graduate Minority Programs, and chair of the department of journalism.
Dr. Alexander is a graduate of the University of New Orleans where he double-majored in drama and communications. He holds a master’s degree in journalism and communication from the University of Florida, a juris doctorate from Tulane University in New Orleans, and a Ph.D. in higher education from Florida State University.