Karen E. Hudson, PhD
Director of Architectural and Cultural History
Principal Investigator
Karen Hudson has a Ph.D. in folklore and a master's degree in historic preservation. She has been conducting cultural-historic resource studies for over 19 years. She served as the survey coordinator for the Kentucky Heritage Council (SHPO) from 1989 to 1991. After leaving the SHPO, she continued identifying, documenting, and analyzing cultural-historic resources as a staff member or sub-consultant to various cultural resource management firms; local, state, and federal agencies; and private individuals.
Karen began employment with CRA in 2000. She serves as the Director of Architectural and Cultural History. Her duties include marketing, coordination with state and federal agencies and private sector clients, development of scopes of work and budgets, technical review of project reports, and project staffing.
Karen has authored or co-authored hundreds of technical reports and National Register nominations, as well as a number of publications. She belongs to several professional organizations and societies and served on the Board of Directors of the Vernacular Architecture Forum. Karen has completed additional technical training, including Section 106 and transportation-related (“Thinking Beyond the Pavement” and “Public Involvement in the Transportation Decision-Making Process”) courses.
When not at work, Karen enjoys traveling with her partner. They are avid hikers and spend much of their time in the Red River Gorge of Kentucky and the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee.