Our Team

Meet the Vice Provost for DEI

El pagnier “EK” Hudson

El pagnier Kay “EK” Hudson serves as FIU’s first vice provost for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, appointed in September 2020. As inaugural Vice Provost of DEI, she is responsible for leading efforts to cultivate enhanced diversity and inclusion systems for the university, including oversight in matters associated with Civil Rights Compliance and Accessibility.

Hudson, who was also promoted to the position of senior vice president for Human Resources, led FIU’s anti-racism efforts through the Equity Action Initiative (EAI), in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and other incidents of racial injustice. University leadership commissioned the EAI in the summer of 2020 to identify issues of systemic racism, bias, and inequity at FIU and provide actionable steps to eradicate them. That work evolved into the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Hudson said one of her new division’s first projects will be to craft a strategy and timeline for implementing the EAI recommendations. Areas of focus, based on the EAI review, include increasing the number of tenured Black faculty and Black employees in leadership positions, enhancing the African & African Diaspora program, improving recruitment and retention of Black students and additional police training.

“I am both excited and humbled by the incredible opportunity to lead the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion division for FIU,” Hudson said. “The creation of this division demonstrates the commitment and courage of our university leadership to make sure that everyone is included, everyone is considered and that the playing field is level.”

Hudson came to FIU in 2010 as assistant vice president for Human Resources. She was named interim vice president of Human Resources in 2018 and appointed Vice President in 2019. In that role, she oversees the full complement of HR disciplines that include employee and labor relations, employee engagement initiatives, Talent Acquisition and Management, and Compensation and Benefits.

With more than 30 years of experience in the HR field, Hudson currently serves as an at-large board member for the National Office of the College and University Professional Association (CUPA-HR). She is a past-chair for the College and University HR Executives (CUHRE) Consortium, serves as an executive board member to lead urban/community growth with the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, and serves on the Board of Opportunities Industrialization Centers (OIC) of South Florida.

Hudson grew up in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood and graduated from Miami Northwestern Senior High School. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Florida A&M University. Hudson, who lives in Delray Beach with her husband Winston G. Hudson, is the mother of three daughters – one, an FIU alum, another an FIU graduate student, and the other, an FIU employee – and has three grandchildren.