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 for more than seven years. 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. Alexander and his wife, Shenette, have three children: Kylie, Savannah and Madison.