February 5, 2004

Staff profile: Jim Webb

Title and length of service: Director of information technology, School of Education and Social Policy; three years.

photo by Stephen Anzaldi

What do you do? I work with our students and faculty to ensure that their research and other academic work are matched with the most appropriate technology. I help them understand how the future of technology will affect their work. My wonderful staff keeps everything running smoothly. This work is enormously challenging and rewarding. My fellow CIOs are amazing.

Road to Northwestern: I came to Northwestern in 1999 as the technology coordinator for the Learning and Technology in Urban Schools project. LeTUS creates technology-rich math and science curricula for urban secondary schools, and conducts research on the efficacy of that work. Before coming to Northwestern, I taught high school instrumental music for 15 years.

How do you go from leader of the band to IT director? My wife’s career has required her to move around. I needed something satisfying and portable.

Frequent fliers: My wife, Pamela, is senior director of the Office of Research Administration at Stanford. She’s the former director of sponsored research at Northwestern’s Chicago campus. One of us flies to be with the other each weekend.

What do you like to do outside of work? I enjoy woodworking. My grandfather taught me to appreciate the beauty and soul of wood when I was still in elementary school. Today, I primarily build pieces in the Arts and Crafts style. Some are reproductions of works by Stickley, Roycroft, Greene and Greene and others. Some are adaptations to which I’ve added my own interpretation. Of particular interest is the Japanese influence that lends such grace and hand to the works of Greene and Greene.

— Marilyn Idelman Soglin