by Robert Allen
R-Allen.1@onu.edu
Professor of Political Science, Andrew Ludanyi, has been teaching at Ohio Northern University for forty years - and he plans on making this year his last. The political science professor was born in Hungary, moved to the United States with his parents during The Second World War and was raised in New York City.
Recently, on a sofa outside the offices on Hill building’s third floor, Ludanyi shared a few reflections.
According to the professor, he was not interested in academics as a young man. “I never wanted to teach,” he said. Instead, he was very interested and involved with athletics. He was a boxer.
Today he describes athletics as a type of addiction – a positive addiction that’s rooted in the desire for adrenaline. And it was something he explained was not easy to quit.
But, after sustaining an accidental back injury, Ludanyi found himself confined to a hospital bed. He remembers his sister came to visit him almost every day. She talked to him about the importance of going to college and the uncertainty – and perhaps unlikelihood – of making a life as a professional boxer. “I had plenty of time to think,” added Ludanyi.
His conclusion was to go to college. So he enrolled at Elmhurst College in Chicago, beginning his long and successful academic career.
But he still wasn’t completely out of the ring. “I even entered the Golden Gloves once in Chicago,” he said. This may have been the final blow of his boxing endeavors – but that doesn’t trouble him. He reflects on how losing a critical bout due to a rule technicality may have been the best thing that could have happened. Otherwise, he contends, he wouldn’t have been able to quit fighting; he would have wanted to keep going.
But Ludanyi said he has no regrets about spending his career teaching; he would make the same decision again. “Life is satisfying if you do what you like to do,” said Ludanyi. And that’s exactly what teaching became.
“Teaching keeps you young,” he explained. “You have to keep yourself fresh.” He said that kids can see right through a professor that doesn’t know his material and stay up to date.
Ludanyi described a rather unfavorable – but expected – reaction to Ada as a young professor. “Initially I thought I wouldn’t survive because I lived in New York City.” But after some time in Ada, getting married, and having children, he decided it was an ideal place to be. Now he says, “I would choose Ada over New York.”
He considers the social dissonance during the War in Vietnam as an especially memorable time in his career. As a political science professor, the issues were of particular interest. With a slight chuckle, he recalls participating in sit-ins, or “teach-ins,” as he explains they called them.
Ludanyi also considers his involvement with the Model United Nations program to be a highlight of his time at Northern. He explained how the program attracts students of high standard that can discuss ideas amongst themselves and with him almost as peers instead of students. “I learned from them almost as much as they learned from me,” he added with a smile.
It’s clearly a topic he cares greatly about.
At a point in the conversation he hesitated for a moment, deliberating. Then, he stood up and walked back into his office. He started searching for something. The place was packed with books even by college professor standards. As he quickly scanned through a section of the textual labyrinth he joked about the daunting task of removing it all.
He found what he was looking for – a publication of sorts from the most recent Model United Nations Conference in New York City. After a moments glance at the contents he flipped through the pages then stopped and pointed. Ohio Northern is listed among one of the four oldest participants. And for forty of those years Ludanyi has been an important part of that tradition.
Ludanyi also enjoys the week in New York that the program includes. He feels that is as much time as he would want to spend there anymore. He stopped for a moment, thinking about this mix of experiences and deciding between words. Then, he said “I had my cake – and I have eaten it too.”
In the future Ludanyi said he would like to see the University continue to improve the “substance” of their course offerings. He would like to see the breadth of available courses expand. He considers the campus to be as physically beautiful as possible; now he wants to see the academic experience match it
After retiring from his position at Ohio Northern, Ludanyi plans to travel and continue his career long research concerning the people of Eastern Europe.