Alexia Hudson-Ward elected ACRL vice-president/president-elect

CHICAGO – Alexia Hudson-Ward, Associate Director of Research, Learning, and Strategic Partnerships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Libraries, has been elected ACRL Vice-President/President-Elect. Hudson-Ward will become President-Elect in July 2025 and assume the presidency in July 2026 for a one-year term.

Andrea Falcone, Dean of Libraries at Binghamton University Libraries at Binghamton University SUNY, has been elected to the ACRL Board of Directors as Director-at-Large.

Kimberley Bugg, CEO/Library Director of the Woodruff Library at the Atlanta University Center, has been elected to the ACRL Board of Directors as Director-at-Large.

Millie Gonzalez, Dean of Libraries at the New York Institute of Technology, has been elected to the ACRL Board of Directors as Councilor.

"I am honored to be elected ACRL’s Vice-President/President-Elect. My deepest gratitude to ACRL members, my family, and supporters for believing in my vision,” Hudson-Ward said. “I look forward to working with 2025-26 ACRL President Brad Warren, the ACRL Board of Directors, and our leadership to advance solutions-centered strategies that empower academic library staff and amplify our excellence.

“Despite the current challenges within higher education, our collective strength as ACRL will propel us forward. ACRL will champion academic libraries as essential engines of research, learning, innovation, and belonging. I welcome your ideas and am excited to serve our association at this historic moment."

During her 22 years of ACRL membership, Hudson-Ward has held several positions on the ACRL Conference Committees, including chair of the ACRL 2025 Conference (2023-2025), co-chair of the ACRL 2023 Conference Keynotes Committee (2021-2023), and a member of the ACRL 2011 Conference Virtual Conference Committee (2009-2011).

"I am delighted to have Alexia Hudson-Ward join the ACRL Board of Directors as Vice-President/President-Elect," said ACRL Interim Executive Director Allison Payne. "Hudson-Ward's significant participation in ACRL, including most recently serving as the ACRL 2025 Conference Chair, and her deep knowledge of the profession will benefit ACRL members. I greatly value her leadership and look forward to her contributions on the ACRL Board."

Hudson-Ward has also served on the ACRL College Libraries Section (CLS) as past chair (2020-2021), chair (2019-2020), vice-chair (2018-2019). She was a member of the ACRL Budget and Finance Committee (2016-2020), co-chair of the ACRL Instruction Section (IS) ALA Midwinter Conference Instruction Section Soiree (2007-2008) and a member of the ACRL Marketing to Academic and College Libraries Committee (2007-2010). Hudson-Ward also served as a member of the ACRL IS and the Women and Gender Studies Section (2007-2009), the ACRL IS Instruction for Diverse Populations Committee (2007-2009), and a member of the ACRL IS Advisory Committee (2007-2008).

Hudson-Ward’s experience with ALA includes Life Membership in ALA and the Black Caucus of ALA. She has also served as a member of the ALA Executive Board (2012-2015) and divisional executive board liaison to ACRL, ALSC, and United for Libraries. She was also the ALA Councilor representing the Pennsylvania State Chapter (2010-2015). Hudson-Ward was a member of the ALA Committee on Professional Ethics (2020-2021), a member of the ALA Steering Committee on Organizational Effectiveness (2018-2020), a member of the ALA Budget and Planning Assembly (2011-2015), a member of the ALA Training, Orientation, and Leadership Development Committee (2007-2011), a member-mentor for the ALA Emerging Leader Program (2008-2009), and a member of the ALA Recruitment Assembly (2007-2008). She is currently a member of the Library History Round Table (LHRT).

Hudson-Ward’s activity with state, regional, and other national associations include serving as the Pennsylvania Library Association’s ALA Chapter Councilor (2010-2015), a Board of Directors member (2010-2015), and chair of the Annual Conference Evaluation (2008-2010). Her service to the Pennsylvania African American Library Association includes terms as president (2007-2008), vice-president/president-elect (2006-2007), and immediate past-president (2008-2009).

Hudson-Ward’s honors and awards include ALA Emerging Leader (2007), the Pennsylvania Library Association’s New Librarian of the Year (2007), a Library Journal Mover and Shaker (2008), Penn State Great Valley School of Professional Studies Faculty Diversity Achievement Award, (2008) and the University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences Outstanding Young Alumni Award (2013). She was a Penn State Big Ten Academic Alliance Academic Leadership Program Fellow (2013-2014) and a UCLA Library Senior Fellow 2024 cohort member.

Other notable accomplishments for Hudson-Ward include co-creating the successful MIT Libraries-ACRL Diversity Alliance Administrative Fellow program to prepare underrepresented talent for future academic library leadership. During her tenure as Oberlin College’s first BIPOC Azariah Smith Root Director of Libraries, she spearheaded naming the main library after civil rights leader Mary Church Terrell and supported an educational partnership with the Smithsonian.

Hudson-Ward’s board memberships, both past (LYRASIS and Center for Research Libraries) and current (“The Conversation U.S. Edition,” The Corning Museum of Glass, and the MIT Press Editorial Board [ex-officio]) support the global library community, scholars, writers, and artists across the disciplines through publishing, research, curatorial, and shared resourcing. As a faculty member of Harvard’s Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians and a non-profit volunteer, she has positively impacted nearly 1,000 leaders as a leadership development educator.

Additionally, Hudson-Ward conceptualized Choice Publishing's Toward Inclusive Excellence (an award-nominated multimedia blog that advances discourse regarding diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, belonging, and social justice in higher education) along with Mark Cummings and Bill Mickey, serving as its inaugural editor-in-chief for three years.

Her publications include Fife, D. and Hudson-Ward, A., “Professional development,” in A.C. Powers, M. Garnar, and D. Fife (Eds), “A Starter's Guide for Academic Library Leaders: Advice in Conversation,” American Library Association Editions (2019); Hudson-Ward, A. Widholm Rodrigues, J, and Walter, S. (Eds), “Cultural Heritage and the Campus Community: Academic Libraries and Museums in Collaboration,” Association of College and Research Libraries (2022); and Hudson-Ward, A., “Open, inclusive and diverse,” in S. Hirsh (Ed), “Library 2035: Imagining the next generation of libraries,” Rowman and Littlefield (2024).

For full 2025 ACRL election results, visit the election section of the ACRL website.

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The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) is the higher education association for academic libraries and library workers. Representing nearly 8,500 individuals and libraries, ACRL (a division of the American Library Association) develops programs, products, and services to help those working in academic and research libraries learn, innovate, and lead within the academic community. Founded in 1940, ACRL is committed to advancing learning, transforming scholarship, and creating diverse and inclusive communities. Find ACRL on the web, Facebook, Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, and YouTube.