Ralph Hexter

Hexter received an A.B. in English literature from Harvard College in 1974. He then studied in England, where he earned a B.A. and M.A. in classics and modern languages at Corpus Christi College, Oxford in 1977 and 1982, respectively. He also earned an M.Phil. and a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Yale University in 1979 and 1982, respectively. Hexter subsequently taught in the classics department at Yale from 1981 to 1991.^[2][3]

Hexter taught classics and comparative literature at the University of Colorado at Boulder and at Yale University.^[2][3] He was also the Executive Dean of Letters and Science and Dean of Arts and Humanities at the University of California, Berkeley.^[2][3] Hexter assumed the Hampshire College presidency on August 1, 2005, a post he relinquished on December 31, 2010.^[3]

Hexter has been involved with the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts, Phi Beta Kappa, the American Philological Association, and the National Conference for Community and Justice.^[3]

On August 2, 2010, Hexter announced his resignation as president of Hampshire.^[5][6] On August 20, Hampshire College announced that Marlene Gerber Fried would serve as acting president and that Hexter would be on sabbatical beginning on September 1.^[7]

On November 22, 2010, it was announced that Ralph Hexter would be the next Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor at the University of California, Davis, effective January 1, 2011.^[8] His faculty title is Distinguished Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature.

In June 2020, Hexter stepped down as Provost to return to teaching.^[9]

Hexter is openly gay.^[10][11] He was among the founding members of LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education. Hexter married his longtime partner, Manfred Kollmeier, in 2007.^[12]