Frank Alexander is currently the Sam Nunn Professor of Law at the Emory University School of Law

Emory University School of Law

Emory University School of Law is a first-tier US law school that is part of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. It is ranked #30 among ABA-approved law schools by the 2012 U.S. News & World Report...

. He is also General Counsel for Center for Community Progress.

Education

Alexander received his Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 from University of North Carolina

University of North Carolina

Chartered in 1789, the University of North Carolina was one of the first public universities in the United States and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century...

 in 1973 and later received his Juris Doctor

Juris Doctor

Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...

 and Master of Theological Studies

Master of Theological Studies

A Master of Theological Studies is a general academic degree that gives students an introduction to advanced theological studies. The M.T.S usually requires two years of program study to complete. The Latin equivalent for M.T.S...

 from Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 in 1978.

Professional career

In 1982 Alexander co-founded Emory's Center for the Study of Law and Religion

Center for the Study of Law and Religion

The Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia is dedicated to studying the religious dimensions of law, the legal dimensions of religion, and the interaction of legal and religious ideas and institutions, norms and practices...

. The Center was the first of its kind among American law schools and, at least initially, focused on producing scholarly interdisciplinary work on the interplay of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Many important legal scholars have worked at the Center, including Harold J. Berman

Harold J. Berman

Harold J. Berman was an American legal scholar who was an expert in comparative, international and Soviet/Russian law as well as legal history, philosophy of law and the intersection of law and religion...

, Johan D. van der Vyver

Johan D. van der Vyver

Johan D. van der Vyver is the I.T. Cohen Professor of International Law and Human Rights at Emory law school in Atlanta, Georgia.van der Vyver received a Doctor Legum, from University of Pretoria in 1974 and a Diploma of the International and Comparative Law of Human Rights of the International...

, Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im

Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im

Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law. His specialties include human rights in Islam and cross-cultural issues in human rights, and he is the director of the Religion and Human Rights Program at Emory. He is also a senior fellow of...

, and Michael Broyde

Michael Broyde

Michael J. Broyde is a professor of law and the academic director of the Law and Religion Program at Emory University. He is also a senior fellow in the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. His primary areas of interest are law and religion, Jewish law and ethics, and...

. Other associated scholars include Martin E. Marty

Martin E. Marty

Martin Emil Marty is an American Lutheran religious scholar who has written extensively on 19th century and 20th century American religion. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1956, and served as a Lutheran pastor from 1952 to 1962 in the suburbs of Chicago...

, Stephen G. Post

Stephen G. Post

Stephen G. Post PhD, is the best selling author of The Hidden Gifts of Helping: How the Power of Giving, Compassion, and Hope Can Get Us Through Hard Times , as listed on the nonfiction best seller list with the Wall Street Journal....

, and Martha Albertson Fineman.

Alexander's focus is on community development and affordable housing. He is the nation's leading scholar on land-banking and a driving force in the movement to create land banks, which he describes as "governmental entities that specialize in the conversion of vacant, abandoned and foreclosed properties into productive use." He authored the seminal book in the field in 2005, Land Banks and Land Banking, and was instrumental in establishing the land bank in Flint, Michigan

Flint, Michigan

Flint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the 2010 population to be placed at 102,434, making Flint the seventh largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the...

and other communities. An updated version of this book is offered for free on the Center for Community Progress Website.

Alexander has also received numerous awards for his teaching and served as a past Chairman of Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta. And he is a frequent commentator to NPR and other news sources on topics of urban development and the mortgage crisis.