Tara D. Hudson

Dr. Tara D. Hudson joined the Higher Education Administration program at Kent State University in 2017 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor with tenure effective August 2023. Dr. Hudson came to Kent State from the University of Notre Dame, where she was a postdoctoral research associate at the Center for Social Concerns. She earned her Ph.D. in Educational Research and Policy Analysis with a concentration in higher education from North Carolina State University. She also holds a M.Ed. in Higher Education Administration from North Carolina State University and a B.A. in Studies in Women and Gender from the University of Virginia. She has worked in higher education since 2002 in both researcher and practitioner roles, including five years of experience as an academic advisor. Dr. Hudson is a 2024-2025 Fellow with the University of California National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement.

Dr. Hudson’s dissertation research, which received the 2015 Bobby Wright Dissertation of the Year award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), examined how college students develop and sustain interracial friendships, with the aim of informing educational practice to better support students’ achievement of the critical learning and development outcomes that result from diverse peer interactions and relationships. Her research focuses on two broad areas: (1) college students’ prosocial development, particularly resulting from community engagement and interactional diversity; and (2) the experiences of members of underserved and minoritized groups along their educational and career trajectories. From July 2019-December 2022 Dr. Hudson served as principal investigator (PI) on a three-year, $1.1 million, multi-institutional grant awarded to Kent State University to streamline the transfer process and enhance degree completion rates for students who transfer from Ohio community colleges.