Dr. Valerie Hudson, a professor at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, recently received the Distinguished Service Award for her contributions to promote women’s empowerment worldwide. The award was presented by the LDS International Society.
The Distinguished Service Award is given each year to an individual who has made significant and unique contributions in research or service to humanity. Dr. Hudson has made substantial contributions to both aspects of the award.
“One of the factors that convinced the Board to grant the award to Valerie was that she has made unique contributions in both international research and service,” said executive director of the International Society, Ted Lyon. “We view her as an outstanding professional, an outstanding human being, an amazing and creative researcher, and a delightful friend.”
Dr. Hudson is an expert on international security and foreign policy analysis as well as gender and security. She received her PhD in political science at the Ohio State University. At the Bush School, she directs the Program on Women, Peace, and Security.
Dr. Hudson has developed a nation-by-nation database on women, the WomanStats Database (http://womanstats.org), which has triggered both academic and policy interest. Using this data, Hudson and her co-principal investigators from the WomanStats Project have published a wide variety of empirical work linking the security of women to the security of states.