Meet Dean Blaine Hudson - In Person

President. Provost, vice president, dean, professor, manager, director. As much as these titles describe and apply to the work that happens at the University of Louisville, they don’t get to the essence of what makes UofL unique — its people. November 1, 2011

Once or twice a month, UofL Today profiles people who help to make the university what it is. This week get to know A&S dean Blaine Hudson — In Person.

Name: Dr. J. Blaine Hudson

UofL title and department: dean, College of Arts and Sciences; professor, Department of Pan-African Studies

At UofL since: 1974 (as an employee); since 1967 (as a student)

In current post since:  2004

Hometown: Louisville

First job and what I learned from it: My first job (at UofL) was that of an administrative coordinator in the School of Education (1974-1975).  Having worked previously in the old Louisville Public School system and with the poverty program, my first campus job taught me a great deal about working in the university environment. And Dean F. Randall Powers was a great mentor—still my example of an ideal dean.

The thing I like most about what I do: I can make a significant difference in the lives of students, staff and faculty—everyday, sometimes in very little ways and other times in ways much larger scale. In a unit the size of A&S, I never do this entirely alone—and must work with a superb group of colleagues to get anything meaningful done.  Also, I can still spend most of my time being an educator—as a leader, of course, but I can still teach and do research—if I manage my time well.

I am: I strive to be a good global citizen and responsible global citizenship requires an active commitment to social justice. I am also still a poet and a dreamer—who is interested in almost everything.

I never: give up on what I believe in.

Guilty pleasure: I feel no guilt over anything that gives me pleasure (smile).

Favorite book(s): “The Souls of Black Folk” by W. E. B. DuBois; “The Brothers Karamazov,” by Dosteyevsky; “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzerald; “Augustus” by John Williams.

Favorite TV show: “Star Trek” (all incarnations)

In the car I listen to: oldies or NPR

Favorite quote(s):

  • “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” Frederick Douglass, 1857.
  • “I am a part of all that I have met;
    Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough
    Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades
    For ever and for ever when I move.
    How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
    To rust unburnished, not to shine in use! From “Ulysses,” by Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1833.
  • “You eat life or life eats you.” Tahitian proverb.

These animals share my world: My cat “Betty”

My day begins: at 6 a.m.

I wish I had more time to: spend with my family.

When I'm not cheering for the Cards, I'm cheering for: the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Most Friday nights you'll find me: at home, trying to unwind with family.

If my life were a movie: it would be a version of The Odyssey.

Anything else you’d like the UofL community to know: Being in Louisville and being at UofL for so many years have both been challenges—with many good times and bad. But, as Lyman Johnson once said, “I like it here.”