Dr. Judy G. Hample was born October 16, 1947. She attended David Libscomb University where she earned her Bachelor's in communication and secondary education for the French language and graduated in 1969. She later attended graduate school at Ohio State University and successfully completed a Master of Arts and Ph.D. in communication and graduated in 1974.

Her first professional faculty appointment was at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana as a lecturer and director of intercollegiate debate in the Department of Speech Communication. She went on to be a department division director at the Western Illinois University and then as assistant dean at the College of Arts and Sciences. She was the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Emporia State University, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana State University and senior vice president of academic affairs at the University of Toledo.

Following this, Hample became the vice chancellor for planning, budgeting and policy analysis for the Florida Board of Regents in 1998. Between 1999 and 2000 she became the executive and then became the chancellor in 2001. After leaving this public role, Hample went on to become the second chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education where she worked until June 2007. Following this departure, Hample became the eighth president of the University of Mary Washington as well as the first female president. Under Hample, UMW approved a Women's and Gender Studies major, began the Eagle Village development project, and laid the groundwork for the Strategic Plan. On February 19, 2010, she announced her plans to leave the University of Mary Washington with only two of her contracted five years completed.