Dr. Derrick Hudson has served on our Board since the establishment of the ASDF. He brings tremendous experience to our team and he is Education Program Chairman and historical context on the continent of Africa. Dr. Hudson is a Teaching Associate Professor of International Relations in the Division of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS) at Colorado School of Mines. Dr. Hudson teaches undergraduate courses in International Relations, African History, African Development, Religion and Security, African American Studies, and Comparative Religions in the Era of Globalization. He also has taught courses as well as directed the department’s graduate program, formerly known as the Master of Science in International Political Economy of Resources (MIPER).

Dr. Hudson also taught a course in the McBride Honors Program and led a group of students for a study abroad trip to South Africa in 2012. He earned his PhD in International Relations from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies (JKSIS) at the University of Denver, a master’s degree from the University of Central Oklahoma (political science/international affairs), and a bachelor of science from the United States Air Force Academy (humanities).
He specializes in religion and politics in Africa, with particular expertise on the role of prophetic Christianity as an agent for social change in selected historically deeply divided societies. His teaching interests also includes the role of truth commissions as societies are in transition from authoritarian to democratic rule.

His current scholarship in engineering education has been to explore and explain the persistent under-representation of African Americans in engineering, with a chapter appearing in International Perspectives on Engineering Education (2015), entitled “Challenges of Overcoming Structural Barriers for African American Engineers in the United States and in the African Diaspora.” Prior to coming to Mines, Dr. Hudson was an Assistant Professor in the Department of African and African American Studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver, where he taught African American Studies, Social Movements, and Kenyan Politics and Culture. He developed and led a team of students for a one-month study abroad experience in Kenya in 2007. Prior to earning his doctorate, Dr. Hudson has worked with several Denver-based nonprofit organizations as an Academic Director, and served as an affiliate faculty member at Colorado Christian University in which he developed a program in Urban Studies and Leadership. His field work has been conducted in numerous countries, most notably South Africa, Kenya, South Sudan, and Guatemala. His current research interests are focused on a co-edited volume on South Sudan (Routledge Press, forthcoming). Prior to his academic career, Dr. Hudson served as an Air Weapons Controller with the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWCS) in the United States Air Force.