UAPB Chancellor Recommended to Lead UM – Flint

LITTLE ROCK (Monday, May 13, 2024) — Laurence B. Alexander, Ph.D., chancellor at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) for 11 years, today informed the UAPB community that he will be recommended to become the next chancellor at the University of Michigan – Flint, effective July 1.

The recommendation of his new five-year chancellorship is pending approval by the University of Michigan Board of Regents at its regularly scheduled meeting on May 16. Read the UM – Flint announcement here. 

“Dr. Alexander’s tenure at UAPB has seen transformative change on campus and in the community, and his steadfast leadership is appreciated and will be missed,” said University of Arkansas System President Donald R. Bobbitt. “While we wish Dr. Alexander and the UM-Flint campus much success moving forward, I am confident that an institution as unique and respected as UAPB will draw the interest of many highly qualified individuals on a national scale and future leadership will be well-equipped to keep UAPB on its upward trajectory.”

Bobbitt said an interim chancellor will be appointed at UAPB in the coming months, along with an announcement of a search committee representative of the UAPB campus and Pine Bluff communities, the UA System, the Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas member and other constituents to conduct a national search for Alexander’s permanent replacement. The outcome of the search committee’s effort will produce a pool of finalists that will make public visits to the campus and ultimately Bobbitt will recommend a candidate for approval by the Board of Trustees.

“I am thrilled to join the University of Michigan – Flint community,” said Alexander, whose selection caps a 10-month national search. “Leaving my amazing colleagues, students and friends at UAPB and in the Pine Bluff community is bittersweet. However, I’m excited to become a part of one of the world’s greatest universities in Michigan and am eager to take this next huge step in my career. I want to thank the UA System, the campus and all of those who have been supportive of the important work we were able to accomplish as a team during my tenure in Pine Bluff.”

Alexander has more than three decades of combined professional and academic experience as a university chancellor, professor, attorney and journalist. Under his leadership, UAPB grew enrollment, increased retention and graduation rates, and launched several new academic programs. The university reached higher levels of research investment and grant funding, acquired funding for new construction and renovation, and developed new corporate partnerships that led to multiple major-gift donations and increased the endowment by 250 percent. Alexander also was appointed in 2022 by President Joe Biden to Chair the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development, a seven-member, presidentially appointed advisory board to USAID to ensure that the agency 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 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. He earned a bachelor’s degree in drama and communications from the University of New Orleans, master’s degree in journalism and communications from the University of Florida, Juris Doctor from Tulane University, and Ph.D. in higher education from Florida State University.