PC Degree: B.A. in History and French; magna cum laude

Activities Participated in as a PC Student: Liberal Arts Honors Program; co-founder and first editor-in-chief of Prism, which published students' scholastic material.

Career Path Highlights: Ludes earned a doctorate in diplomatic history from Georgetown University in 2003. After working as editor-in-chief of National Security Studies Quarterly, he served as legislative assistant for defense and foreign policy to U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) from 2002-2006 and coordinated defense policy issues for Senator Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign.

Ludes has served as executive director of the American Security Project since 2006. Based in Washington, D.C., the non-profit, bipartisan public policy research organization is dedicated to fostering understanding of national security issues and developing innovative solutions to national security challenges.

While serving as a member of President-elect Obama's Transition Team from November 2008 to February 2009, Ludes helped to identify critical Department of Defense (DOD) issues and headed the Senate confirmation team for nominees for deputy secretary of defense and other high-level positions.

Ludes is the editor of, and a contributor to, Iraq Uncensored (2009) and co-edited Attacking Terrorism (2004) and Twenty-First Century Proliferation (2001). He is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Staying Involved: Ludes offered two presentations at Providence College in 2009. The first was a lecture on "National Security and the Obama Administration" in February. His second presentation was as the Distinguished Alumnus keynote speaker at the Liberal Arts Honors Convocation Program in October. He serves as a career mentor through FriarLink, a database of alumni who volunteer to offer career advice to students. He has taken part in career-related events and has also represented PC at college fairs as a member of the Alumni Associates Program.

"Transforming" Quotes: "Their [the faculty's] passion and zeal for what they were teaching still inspires me."

"Faith and reason can be reconciled. I suspect that almost everyone who graduates from PC takes that with them intellectually. But in the Honors program, I didn't just study it--I witnessed it in the lives of my professors."