Jennifer Hudson

Jennifer Hudson is vice president for Executive Affairs at SMU. She works closely with the president and University leadership to align strategy across academic and administrative units, advance institutional priorities and guide high-impact initiatives. Hudson also serves as professor of political science in SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences.

Before joining SMU, Hudson spent more than two decades at University College London, where she held several senior leadership roles, including vice provost (faculties) and dean of the faculty of Social and Historical Sciences. In those positions, she helped shape university strategy, encouraged interdisciplinary collaboration and ensured the institution’s academic mission remained central to decision-making. She has led institutional reviews of senior leadership roles, designed cross-faculty integrated annual planning and established an interdisciplinary public policy impact unit.

An internationally recognized scholar of political behavior and international development, Hudson founded and directed the Development Engagement Lab, a multi-country research initiative examining public attitudes toward international development and foreign aid. The project brings together more than 30 international development organizations and government ministries to better understand public opinion and inform policy. Her research has been funded by the Gates Foundation and the Economic and Social Research Council and published in leading journals, including American Politics Research, British Journal of Political Science, Party Politics, Electoral Studies, Journal of Experimental Political Science and Political Studies. Hudson earned her Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Riverside.