Heather Hudson, Professor Emerita, University of San Francisco; Former Director, ISER, University of Alaska Anchorage, USA

PTC is pleased to congratulate Dr. Heather Hudson as the 2021 Richard J. Barber PTC Distinguished Service Award recipient. In recognition of her outstanding service to the PTC community, this prestigious award named in honor of the late Richard J. Barber, the cofounder and longtime Executive Director of PTC, celebrates her leadership and many contributions to PTC.

With more than 40 years of dedicated service, Dr. Hudson has been involved in many facets of PTC. She has served on both the Board of Governors and Advisory Council. She has presented papers almost every year at PTC’s Annual Conference and has been actively involved in the Research Committee since its founding and is a former co-chair. She was also instrumental in establishing the Information and Communications Technology for Development (ICT4D) Special Interest Group. She continues to recruit and mentor promising young scholars.

Dr. Hudson is Professor Emerita at the University of San Francisco and Affiliate Professor of Communications Policy and former Director of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), University of Alaska Anchorage. Her research focuses on applications of information and communication technologies for socioeconomic development, regulatory issues, and policies and strategies to extend affordable access to communications, particularly in Indigenous and developing regions. She has planned and evaluated communication projects in more than 50 developing countries and emerging economies, including the Pacific Islands. Dr. Hudson is the author of numerous articles and several books. Her latest book is Connecting Alaskans: Telecommunications in Alaska from Telegraph to Broadband.

She joins the list of distinguished award recipients including: Bruce Drake, Tara Giunta, Klaus Gueldenpfennig, John Hibbard, Mark Hukill, Meheroo Jussawalla, Tim Logue, Sharon Nakama, and Robert Walp.

Mahalo to Dr. Hudson and to the previous recipients who have given so much to the organization.