Chancellor, University of Michigan Flint
221 University Pavilion
Flint, Michigan 48503-2186
Flint website

Laurence B. Alexander began his service as the tenth chancellor of the University of Michigan-Flint on July 1, 2024.

For 11 years he served as Chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, a public 1890 land-grant Minority-Serving Institution and Historically Black College/University. Alexander brings more than three decades of combined professional and academic experience as a transformational university leader, administrator, distinguished professor, First Amendment scholar, attorney and journalist.

President Joe Biden appointed Alexander in 2022 to chair the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development, a seven-member, presidentially appointed advisory board that ensures the U.S. Agency for International Development brings the assets of U.S. universities to bear on development challenges in agriculture and food security and supports their representation in USAID programming.

Prior to joining the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Alexander served 22 years as a professor and administrator at the University of Florida, where he held key leadership roles, including Provost Administrative Fellow in the Office of Academic Affairs, associate dean of the graduate school, director of the Office of Graduate Minority Programs, chair of the Department of Journalism, and Distinguished Teaching Scholar.

Alexander received a bachelor’s degree in drama and communications from the University of New Orleans, a master’s degree in journalism and communications from the University of Florida, a Juris Doctor degree from Tulane University, and a Ph.D. in higher education from Florida State University.