Anne Oliver Hughes

Dr. Anne Oliver Hughes passed away quietly in her sleep on Saturday the 22nd, 2025. Anne was born in Colorado on June 9th, 1929, and she was educated at Swarthmore. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. After serving as a full professor of sociology for over 40 years at the University of the District of Columbia, she was persuaded by her late husband, Jack Hughes, to retire from the University around 2010.

Anne married John F. Hughes in 1969, and they shared their passion for governmental policy focused on education as an institutional building block to promote social equality and economic opportunity for all Americans.

Professor Hughes moved to the DC area in the late 1960’s where she started working at the Federal City College which became the current University of the District of Columbia (UDC). As an educator at UDC, Anne touched thousands of students through her classes at the UDC campus; she even taught statistics to the inmates at the correctional facility at Lorton, Virginia, out of her love and dedication for people at all levels. At the University, she had students, other than those who were registered for her course, lined up outside her statistics class just to see her in action teaching statistics.

In addition to her outstanding teaching career, one of the major contributions she made, as a Director of Development at the University, was the creation of two proseminars; one in grants writing and the other one in Computer proseminar. As a researcher, Dr. Hughes was awarded numerous federal and state grants that allowed her to focus on methodologies to improve the educational process through direct research. During 2007-2015, she coauthored with Daryao Khatri 11 books in physics, math and education. During the 2007 timeframe, their work preparing high school students in passing the nationally recognized Accuplacer was covered by the Washington Post and a dozen nationally recognized newspapers.

In addition, Dr. Hughes was an accomplished painter and gardener who loved to create beauty wherever she could.

Dr. Hughes was preceded in death by her husband Jack Hughes, and her brother Tom Oliver, also a professor at UDC and a motorcycle enthusiast. She leaves her step-son William Hughes, daughter-in-law, Elisabeth Hughes, and their children Heather and Rebecca as well her brother’s children Tom and Katie, and step-daughter Kathy Hughes.