Kern earned his Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in English and History from Centre College in 1961.
[2] 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.
His time at WKU was marked by multiple controversies, ending with a failed attempt to install faculty editors to oversee the independent student newspaper and yearbook.
In his autobiography, My Life, President Bill Clinton quoted Alexander and described him as a nationally recognized expert on education policy.