Human Resource Development Professor Wins Book of the Year Award

The Academy of Human Resource Development honored Claretha Hughes, a professor of human resource development in the U of A College of Education and Health Professions, with the 2025 R. Wayne Pace Book of the Year Award.

The award is bestowed on an author annually whose human resource development book focuses on human resource development, organization development, personnel training or development or other areas of the profession.

Katherine Yeager, co-chair of the R. Wayne Pace Book of the Year award and Academy of Human Resource Development board member, said the award is in its 29th year. She announced Hughes as a winner at the 2026 AHRD International Research Conference in the Americas awards ceremony in February.

"This award is presented to the author of a Human Resource Development book, which is identified as outstanding in advancing theory and/or practice of the profession," Yeager told conference attendees. "Books are evaluated on the foundation of theory and/or research, the timely importance and thinking about the topic or to provide a challenge to current values, beliefs and assumptions."

Hughes' book, Women's Career Development in Virtual Remote Work Environments: Models, Theories, and Frameworks, examines the challenges and opportunities women face in pursuing career development while working remotely. It offers practical steps that human resource professionals, scholars and organizations can use to understand and support women's career growth in this setting.

"I'm very excited for this award because it is my second time receiving the R. Wayne Pace HRD Book of the Year Award from the Academy of Human Resource Development," Hughes said. "Receiving it in the sub-area of career development truly increases the knowledge base around how employees, especially women who work in virtual remote environments, are affected."

Hughes said her publisher notified her in the fall that her book had been nominated. She was pleased to be nominated and thrilled to have won. She based the book's contents on an earlier book chapter that she published in 2006. She updated her original career development model and applied it to the virtual remote and career work environment during Industry 5.0. "That made the book itself and this recognition of the book very gratifying," she said.

Hughes, who joined the faculty of the College of Education and Health Professions in 2004, has taught for 22 years at the U of A. She has spent 33 years working or consulting in corporate America.