Dr. Robert Ludwig ends his tenure as IPS Director

Greetings and good wishes in this exceptionally warm summer! 

Effective today, I will be stepping down from my role as Director of IPS.

My decision to step down after two terms and eight years is based on a pretty good sense of myself.  I’ve loved being director of IPS.  I had high expectations coming in, and the opportunities have exceeded my hopes and expectations.  I’ve loved serving in this capacity.  Nonetheless, the chronological clock ticks.  I turned 68 a few weeks ago, and I have been running something (at Loyola New Orleans, DePaul, and now IPS) for thirty years.  That’s a long time to be on-call 24/7/365 and basically the place where the buck stops.  I don’t have the drive or the energy that I had eight years ago, and I really want to return to full-time teaching and do some important writing projects. 

I want to continue to provide advice and counsel to IPS as needed or desired, but I’m delighted that Dr. Brian Schmisek will be joining the IPS community as director beginning next week. Brian comes to us from the University of Dallas and is uniquely prepared to confidently lead IPS into a thriving future.

My health is good (thank God), and I have no plans to abandon Chicago and Loyola at present.  Down the road, Kathy and I may decide that it’s time for me to retire completely—but that time is not now.  I thank you again for your work with IPS and want to continue to connect with many of you as we go forward.

                                                                                    With every good wish,

 

                                                                                    Robert Ludwig, Director