A zealous advocate of scuba diving and servant-leadership has joined IPR as assistant to the director for administration. In April, Ruth McCullough took over the position vacated by Theresa Parker after more than six years at IPR. Parker moved to the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management where she is now associate director of finance and planning with responsibility for budget planning and oversight.

McCullough has an MBA from Rollins College, where she also earned a degree in English. She came to Northwestern after 6 l/2 years of administrative work at a Chapter 13 bankruptcy trusteeship in Chicago. Over the past 30 months, its caseload grew from 6,000 to more than 9,000 cases, half of the total in the Chicago metropolitan area.

Prior to taking time out to raise three children, McCullough worked on Capitol Hill and interned in the Bureau of International Commerce where, among other tasks, she shepherded Soviet Trade Mission officials on a tour to Monticello. She subsequently moved into an administrative position in the White House Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention. That office was the first government agency to coordinate all federal efforts for drug treatment and rehabilitation and was predecessor to the “drug czars” of the 1990s.

“My Washington experience was very helpful for my present job, particularly when it comes to processing grants,” McCullough explained. “It gave me a better feel for federal funding.” McCullough was especially intrigued with the chance to work at IPR because she believes its research can produce a change for the better in people’s lives. “I wanted to work in an organization where the work mattered,” she explained.