Kern Alexander

Alexander founded the Oxford Round Table, a series of interdisciplinary conferences held at various colleges in the University of Oxford, in 1989. He has been closely involved with the Round Table ever since, often serving as its president.

Prior to coming to the University of Illinois he served as President of two American state universities (Western Kentucky University and Murray State University), was a tenured distinguished professor at the University of Florida, Gainesville, University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech and held the Robinson Eminent Scholar Chair at the University of North Florida, Jacksonville. As President of Western Kentucky University, 1985–88, he founded the institutions community college and opened the Glasgow, Kentucky, branch of the university. As President of Murray State, Alexander began a residential college system and founded the Hopkinsville, Paducah, and Henderson campuses of Murray State. Alexander Hall at Murray State is named after him and his presidency at that institution. He is the author or co-author of 25 books on education finance and law and has served as finance expert in state school finance litigation in 22 American states.

Samuel Kern Alexander Jr. was born in Marrowbone, Kentucky in 1939. Kern earned his Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in English and History from Centre College in 1961. While at Centre, Alexander was quarterback and captain of Centre's football team and was initiated into Delta Kappa Epsilon. In 1960, he was named Honorable Mention All-American. While a senior at Centre, Kern Alexander met his first wife, Ruth Hammack. Hammack was a native of Paint Lick, Kentucky, and she graduated from Milligan College in 1960. Hammack moved to Danville, Kentucky for a teaching job after graduating from college. They married in 1961. The Alexanders moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where Kern earned a master's degree from Western Kentucky University in 1962. Kern and Ruth Alexander had two children Samuel Kern Alexander III and Fieldon King Alexander, and then the Alexanders moved to Indiana, where Kern completed his Ed.D. in Educational Administration from Indiana University in 1965, and a Diploma in Educational Studies from Oxford University, with distinction, 1977. The Alexanders went on to have two more children: Klinton West Alexander and Wesley Kane Alexander.