Educator and advocate for Africentric learning awarded honorary Dal degree

A pioneering leader in education, committed to breaking down barriers and inspiring future generations, Hudson dedicated years to research that allowed her to develop a program that weaves Afrocentric perspectives into curricula, equipping students with the tools to succeed in any path they choose.

Currently principal of Auburn Drive High School in Cole Harbour, she made history by establishing the province’s first Africentric Math Cohort. Her commitment to community is showcased in countless ways, including serving as interim president of the Black Educators Association and as member on the advisory committee of the Indigenous Blacks & Mi’kmaq Initiative in Dal’s Schulich School of Law. 

‘Outstanding Principal’

Hudson’s master's thesis focused on environmental racism in the Preston area. Her many awards and honours include a 100 Accomplished Black Canadian (ABC) Woman Award in 2024 and being named one of Canada’s Outstanding Principals in 2019. 

“They said it [the Canada’s Outstanding Principal honour] was for my ‘ground-breaking work on embedding Afrocentricity into mathematics.’ The goal was to get students who are not pursuing higher level math classes get them to actually see themselves in those classes,” Hudson told host David Barclay when she was a guest on the Faculty of Science’s podcast Sciographies last year.  

“And not just see themselves but to feel that they can actually be successful. Whatever success looks like for them, for them not to give up the opportunity to try those high-level math classes. My goal was to basically look at the data, and the data was telling me a different (story)."

The data, she said, told her that students of African ancestry need an opportunity and a chance to actually take these high-level classes. “Obviously, I think (what) we encounter at all levels of education and all topics, really, is this idea of bias, the bias, the internal bias…I want students and parents to feel that they're limitless, that they have opportunities that are out there and that math is used in every aspect of our lives.”