Ralph Jay Hexter (born 1952) is a distinguished professor of classics and comparative literature at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

. Previously, he served as the fifth president of

Hampshire College Hampshire College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was opened in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges ...

.Hampshire College biography
/ref>Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts biography

Education

Hexter received an

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in English literature from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in 1974. He then studied in England, where he earned a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

and

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in classics and modern languages at Corpus Christi College,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1977 and 1982, respectively. He also earned an

M.Phil. The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...

and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in comparative literature from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1979 and 1982, respectively. Hexter subsequently taught in the classics department at Yale from 1981 to 1991.

Career

Hexter taught classics and comparative literature at the

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sys ...

and at Yale University. He was also the Executive Dean of Letters and Science and Dean of Arts and Humanities at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. Hexter assumed the Hampshire College presidency on August 1, 2005, a post he relinquished on December 31, 2010. Hexter has been involved with the

Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts The Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts (AICUM), is a grouping of accredited, independent, private colleges and universities in the state of Massachusetts. The Association advocates in public policy forums on beha ...

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

, the

American Philological Association The Society for Classical Studies (SCS), formerly known as the American Philological Association (APA) is a non-profit North American scholarly organization devoted to all aspects of Greek and Roman civilization founded in 1869. It is the preemine ...

, and the

National Conference for Community and Justice The National Conference for Community and Justice is an American social justice organization focused on fighting biases and promoting understanding between people of different races and cultures. The organization was founded in 1927 as the Natio ...

. On August 2, 2010, Hexter announced his resignation as president of Hampshire. On August 20, Hampshire College announced that Marlene Gerber Fried would serve as acting president and that Hexter would be on

sabbatical A sabbatical (from the Hebrew: (i.e., Sabbath); in Latin ; Greek: ) is a rest or break from work. The concept of the sabbatical is based on the Biblical practice of ''shmita'' (sabbatical year), which is related to agriculture. According to ...

beginning on September 1.Hampshire College
Marlene Gerber Fried to be Acting Hampshire College President
2010-08-20. Retrieved 2010-08-23. 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. His faculty title is ''Distinguished Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature''.

Personal life

Hexter is openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

. He was among the founding members of LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education. Hexter married his longtime partner, Manfred Kollmeier, in 2007.A Gay President Says 'I Do'
/ref>

Bibliography

*''Equivocal Oaths and Ordeals in Medieval Literature,'' by Ralph J. Hexter, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1975. *''Ovid and Medieval Schooling: Studies in Medieval School Commentaries on Ovid's Ars Amatoria, Epistulae ex Ponto, and Epistulae Heroidum,'' by Ralph J. Hexter, Munich: Arbeo-Gesellschaft, 1986. *''Innovations of Antiquity,'' edited by Ralph Hexter and Daniel Selden, New York: Routledge, 1992. *''A Guide to the Odyssey: A Commentary on the English Translation of Robert Fitzgerald,'' by Ralph J. Hexter, New York: Vintage Books, 1993. *''The Faith of Achates: Finding Aeneas' Other,'' by Ralph J. Hexter, Berkeley, CA: Doe Library, University of California, 1997. *''The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Latin Literature'', edited by Ralph J. Hexter and David Townsend. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. *''Appendix Ovidiana: Latin Texts Ascribed to Ovid in the Middle Ages'', edited by Ralph Hexter, Larua Pfuntner, and Justin Haynes. Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 62. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2020.

References

External links

via University of California, Davis {{DEFAULTSORT:Hexter, Ralph 1952 births Living people Harvard College alumni Yale University alumni University of Colorado Boulder faculty University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty Presidents of Hampshire College American LGBT people Gay academics University of California, Davis administrators