William Hudson Jr.

The path to genuine inclusivity in our colleges and universities begins with dismantling the barriers to entry so that every potential student has the opportunity to thrive. This understanding is at the heart of the work done by William Hudson, the Vice President of Student Affairs at the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.

Max Webber, Co-Host of The Interview, met with William to discuss everything from strategies for widening access to higher education to the challenge of fostering constructive discourse in a climate of polarization.

William's Journey

Max: Let’s start with a brief intro to yourself and your institution…

My name is Dr. William Hudson Jr. and I am the Vice President of Student Affairs at the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. We have around 8,500 students across campuses in Crestview, Jacksonville, and Tampa. We also have a law school in Orlando as well as satellite campuses in Miami and Brookfield.

Max: What inspired you to pursue a career in higher education?

As a former student, I'm an alumnus of Florida A&M University. I've always had a passion for helping people and so looking at education as a route to social mobility. I've always wanted to help people discover who they can become, but also establish pathways of economic viability for people as well – specifically, for first-generation economically disadvantaged students. As I was matriculating through college, I noticed different areas of the need for help for students and for myself, and so I gravitated towards that. I earned my undergrad here at Florida A&M and then my master's in counselor education with the goal of becoming a guidance counselor. From there, I went to Florida State for my specialist degree, working for the Multicultural Student Support Center before earning my PhD in academic retention and enhancement, focusing on retention models for first-generation economically disadvantaged students. It became my passion, and that's led to a 25-year career in higher education 

Max: How can we ensure that students from all backgrounds are able to access higher education?

Communication is key. We need to understand the needs of those students, not only financially but academically at an early age, starting in elementary school through high school and preparing students for college. That is one of the major determinants of first-generation students having accessibility and college preparedness. So we need to make sure that they're prepared for the rigors of college by providing them with an excellent education during their primary and secondary years. Once they have those guidelines, we can provide information about the options that are available, whether it’s going to the community college or coming straight to university, evaluating all those paths but also looking at dual enrollment programs. We need to make sure students have all the facts so they can make informed decisions about their future. 

Max: What’s your approach to help students from marginalized groups thrive once they arrive on campus?

So the most important thing about it is knowing the college route, and then developing the skills necessary to be successful in college. From time and money management to conflict resolution and developing social skills, all of those things are important to make sure that students understand the significance of higher education and how we can impact their lives. That also includes engaging in extracurricular activities, research, career fairs, and then employment opportunities and internships.

Max: How can we encourage students to have respectful conversations across divides? 

When speaking across differences, we’re often discussing what are often quite emotionally charged subjects. So we have what we call the first-year experience, where students take a professional development course to talk about different issues, but also learn strategies on how to be successful in college. And so that is a course that is mandatory for our freshmen coming in. We also have a mandatory civil discourse program. In the state of Florida, there are courses in high school that focus on civil discourse. So all of our campuses have several mechanisms to manage and discuss differences and how to deal with conflict. It’s crucial to keep open lines of communication.

Max: What changes have you seen in the aftermath of the pandemic?

So with the pandemic, there were many long-term issues that I feel are going to impact students' college readiness, because they were not in the classroom – they were on Zoom or FaceTime. So we need to ask – how rigorous have the schedules been to prepare them for college? That might have an effect on how many students want to go to college, because they’ve been out of the classroom for so long. That's going to be an issue as far as the number of applications we receive and the number of students who are college-ready.

The other aspect is social interaction: the pandemic really affected students’ opportunities to socialize with their peers. Sometimes, we might need to educate students about how to be social and how to interact with each other – that’s a huge challenge as well. We've seen an increase in the number of Student Code of Conduct cases due to not being able to resolve issues amicably. That’s happening alongside academic challenges for students, while they're trying to adjust back to being in the classroom and the rigor of college courses.

Max: What do you find most effective when making sure busy students get engaged with extracurricular outside the classroom?

We've been going into the residence halls to provide group sessions and assistance for students. We've got small group sessions with our counseling center that we do on a bi-weekly basis. To get students engaged, you've got to provide incentives. You've got to provide food, you've got to provide something to bring them in to have that discussion. But we're also having our counselors and others go into the classroom and work with students and talk with them about different issues that they may be experiencing. And so we tried to do something campus-wide to keep them engaged and also let them know about the resources that are available. You can't make people come, but you really want to encourage them to seek out assistance prior to getting into a situation. So being proactive is what we're trying to encourage.

Max: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

I've always believed that you should be better today than you were yesterday and better tomorrow than you are today. The key is constant growth; to keep learning.