Dr. Hughes has been a faculty member since the Fall of 2013 and is currently a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership. He is a  former Superintendent of Schools, Director of Special Education and School Psychologist from Wisconsin.

Having worked at every grade level, and having worked in small, medium and large educational agencies as well as holding a multi-district leadership role, Dr. Hughes has a vast amount of experience to draw upon. Those experiences include referendum planning and facilities upgrades, harnessing technology for educational and administrative purposes, finance, human resources and assessment along with issues regarding special education and pupil services.

His scholarship focuses are Conflict, Legal Literacy, Equity, and Areas Often Overlooked in Administrator Training. In addition to his own research and collaborating with colleagues, Dr. Hughes regularly supports student aspirations to publish and present. Instructionally, in addition to supervising Internships, the courses Dr. Hughes teaches regularly include: EDL 622 Legal Aspects of Administration, EDL 629 Principalship (Hybrid and Online in Summer) and EDL 736 Advanced Educational Law and Policy. He is the lead faculty member for the law classes offered by the department, also including EDF 630 Foundations of Education Law which is not typically part of the school administrator licensing sequence. Other courses taught by Dr. Hughes include EDL 623 Politics and Publicity, EDL 625 School Finance and EDL 627 Personnel Administration.