 Alderman taught there until 1893 when he became a professor at the University of North Carolina; he was named president of that institution in 1896.He moved on to take the same position at Tulane University in 1900, before moving again to the University of Virginia in 1904.There he stayed for 27 years, until his death in 1931 from a stroke in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, while en route to deliver a speech in Illinois.