CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – An executive director at Austin Peay State University who has been the subject of multiple audits over several years—both here and in his prior job in Arkansas—has now been fired for “theft or dishonesty and falsification of records.”

Tim Hudson, executive director of the APSU Center for Extended and International Education, was terminated Jan. 24 effective immediately, according to documents obtained by Clarksville Now.

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The termination letter states that during an internal audit investigation meeting, Hudson admitted seeking reimbursement for a trip to a conference that did not occur. The letter characterizes his actions as “irresponsible use of university funds” and “gross misconduct.”

Invoice for conference that didn’t happen

On Dec. 20, 2022, APSU’s Office of Internal Audit was told that Hudson had submitted a travel reimbursement claim with a fabricated document, according to the audit report obtained by Clarksville Now.

The office found that during fiscal years 2022 and 2023, Hudson was reimbursed $16,132 for eight trips, six of them international (to Mexico, Spain, and London) and two domestic.

For one of the out-of-state domestic trips, Hudson claimed he went to an event called “Continuing Education: Regional Status Updates and Focus on Micro-Credentials,” and he submitted the event agenda with the travel claim. The agenda said the event was held at a certain hotel and was sponsored by the Continuing Education Department of the out-of-state university, which wasn’t named in the audit report.

“The agenda appeared fabricated,” the audit report said. “Internal Audit contacted the director of internal audit at the out-of-state university, who agreed the agenda did not look like an official university document. The director contacted various employees/departments and could not confirm the event occurred. Additionally, the director could not locate any payments to the hotel for meeting/conference space.”

Hudson had been reimbursed $828.14 for the trip. When interviewed by auditors, he confirmed the event didn’t happen and there was no business reason for the trip, the report said. APSU said it will withhold the cost of that trip from Hudson’s final paycheck.

Third-party payments, trips with no details

In another trip, Hudson was reimbursed $615 for a seven-day trip to Mexico. He said the trip was to perform site due diligence for possible service learning projects. The invoice said the expense was paid in cash. Auditors determined that the invoice was fabricated, but Hudson denied this.

Further, for four of the six international trips, Hudson noted that some of the expenses were paid by a third party, but the travel claims didn’t identify that third party or say what the expenses were. Hudson also didn’t provide documentation for the details of the trips, which he said were for recruitment, workshops and partner development.

Clarksville Now has attempted to contact Hudson for a response.

APSU responded in the audit report that the vice president for Finance and Administration will address the issues of unnamed third-party payments and lack of travel documentation to prevent those from happening again.

APSU officials told Clarksville Now the university had no comment on the situation.

Audit at Arkansas State

As previously reported by The Leaf-Chronicle, in August 2016, Hudson resigned as chancellor of Arkansas State University during a series of state legislative audits, according to a previous report by the Associated Press and several Arkansas media sites.

Hudson’s wife, Deidra, was Arkansas State’s interim study abroad program director. The audit found that Hudson, who made over $300,000 per year in that role, tried to have his wife appointed as the permanent director. When he was told that would be a violation of state law, he tried to cancel the job posting, according to reports by KATV-Channel 7 in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Audit at APSU

Five months later, in January 2017, Hudson was hired by his former colleague Rex Gandy, then-provost at APSU, to the newly created temporary executive director’s position. Hudson was given a 12-month contract at $137,000 per year. A search process is required for permanent positions but not for interim ones.

University policy is that interim roles can’t go longer than 12 consecutive months. In violation of that policy, Gandy gave Hudson a second contract lasting through June 30, 2019, with the option for an extension to June 30, 2020, according to a November 2018 Leaf-Chronicle report.

Gandy and Hudson had worked together at the University of Southern Mississippi. Gandy stepped down as APSU provost in May 2020.

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Following that November 2018 audit report, APSU said the position itself would be evaluated at the end of the contract period, and if it was deemed necessary, it would be made permanent with a formal candidate search.

In March 2019, Hudson was then hired to be that permanent director, with an annual salary of $140,000 per year, according to a Clarksville Now review of his personnel file. He was also given a moving allowance of $8,000 so that he could move to Clarksville. He appears to have been living in Alabama during the years when he was serving as interim executive director, according to property records.

At the time of his firing in January, Hudson was making $150,011 per year.