Alexander, Elizabeth, 1962-

Elizabeth Alexander (b. May 30, 1962, Harlem, New York) grew up in Washington, D.C. Her father, Clifford Alexander, Jr., was Secretary of the Army and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chairman and her mother, Adele Logan Alexander, was a professor and writer. She graduated from Yale University and received her master's at Boston University, studying under poet Derek Walcott. She received her PhD in English from the University of Pennsylvania. Alexander's first work was published in 1991.

Alexander has taught at Haverford College (1990-1991), the University of Chicago (1991-2000), Yale University (2000-2016); Columbia University (2016-). She is currently the director of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. In 2015, Alexander was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. In 2009, she recited a poem during President Obama's first inauguration, the fourth poet to do so.