Alexia Hudson-Ward has been named the Associate Director for Research and Learning. Part of the senior leadership team of the Libraries, the associate director will have responsibility for providing strategic leadership for the community-facing service portfolio of the Libraries and its full range of core and emerging services that support research and learning at MIT.
“All of us at the MIT Libraries are incredibly excited to welcome Alexia Hudson-Ward,” says Bourg. “She brings a track record of transformative leadership, a deep understanding of the unique needs of a learning community like MIT, and a passionate and principled approach to librarianship that’s grounded in access-ibility, diversity, equity, and inclusion. I’m thrilled we will be working together to advance our vision for research and learning.”
Since 2016, Hudson-Ward has been the Azariah Smith Root Director of Libraries at Oberlin College, where she re-envisioned one of the nation’s oldest liberal arts college library systems. As a result, the libraries were ranked as the college’s top performing administrative unit in 2018. Hudson-Ward previously worked at Penn State, the Camden County Library System, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, and Temple University. She was also an award-winning entertainment journalist and a marketing manager for the Coca-Cola Company. Hudson-Ward received a BA from Temple University and an MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh and is a doctoral candidate in Managerial Leadership in the Information Professions at Simmons University.
“It is an honor to join MIT Libraries at this incredible time in the history of our world, higher education, and academic libraries,” said Hudson-Ward. “I look forward to partnering with the Research and Learning team and the MIT Libraries leadership team to build upon their existing excellence and co-lead the development of new practices and processes that align with the Libraries’ and the Institute’s missions.”
As Associate Director for Research and Learning, Hudson-Ward will lead the departments of Information Delivery and Library Access; Liaison, Instruction, and Reference Services; and Data and Specialized Services as well as the Libraries’ community engagement program. She begins her appointment this fall.
