Anne H. Charity Hudley was appointed as the inaugural North Hall Endowed Chair in the Linguistics of African America at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In her new role, Dr. Hudley said that she will “focus on enhancing social sciences and a humanistic approach into thinking about African American language and culture.”
Professor Hudley will also serve as the director of undergraduate research for the university’s College of Letters and Science. “If you really want to make sure your university is more inclusive, particularly for African American students, coming through what the heart of a university is, research, I think that’s really the way to do it,” Dr. Hudley explained.
Dr. Hudley was the William and Mary Professor of Community Studies and an associate professor of English at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She joined the faculty there in 2005.
Professor Hudley is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University, where she majored in linguistics. She earned a master’s degree in linguistics at Harvard and a Ph.D. in linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania.