Elizabeth Alexander

Elizabeth Alexander — poet, educator, memoirist, scholar, and cultural advocate — is president of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. She has held distinguished professorships at Smith College, Columbia University and Yale University, is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and serves on the Pulitzer Prize Board. Alexander composed and delivered “Praise Song for the Day” for the inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2009, and is author or co-author of 14 books, including "American Sublime" and "The Light of the World."