January 8, 2004

Profile: Andrew Ludington

Title and Length of Service: Manager of research information systems, Office of Sponsored Research (OSR); six years.

What do you do? I’m the manager of a great team of four. We handle the OSR Web presence, maintain data integrity and coordinate information technology initiatives for OSR.

Road to Northwestern: I grew up in the Detroit area. My dad taught at Albion College. I used to think I would attend Northwestern until I visited Kenyon College in central Ohio. Kenyon is the world’s most idyllic college. When I visited the campus, I fell in love with its winding, twisting roads, its beautiful woodlands, its gothic architecture and, of course, its academic climate. I majored in drama and English literature.

But eventually, you did get to Northwestern? Yes. A year after I graduated, I got a job in the bursar’s office. Then, I went to work for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist. That’s the magazine with the doomsday clock on the cover. After three years as the subscription and information technology manager, I returned to Northwestern.

Are you a big movie fan? I love movies and books. In fact, I make independent films. Working with a collaborator, I wrote and produced a film called Urban Love in 2001. It’s a comedy about two collaborators failing to finish a film. We sold it to WTTW/Channel 11 in Chicago and a public television station in San Francisco. One of the characters was very profane. The public TV stations had to bleep a number of his words in order to air it. I was worried about the effect of the edits, but in the end the idea of the profanity was funnier than some of the actual lines. It was a good lesson. I’m working on other films right now.

Family: My wife, Melanie, and I have an infant daughter, Josephine. We live in Evanston.

— Marilyn Idelman Soglin