As an openly gay college student in the mid ’80s, the AIDS epidemic was a major issue for Andrew London.

‘There was a lot of uncertainty,’ he said. ‘I was having very intense conversations with my family and friends about their fears, about my well-being and my own fears.’

London’s focus on HIV/AIDS as a research subject comes from a combination of biography and history.

When he began his graduate work in medical sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, his research focus became clear as the first medical articles were released about the epidemic.

‘I started studying HIV and AIDS issues because that was the big health and society issue at the time,’ he said. ‘It was a personal issue for me as well, trying to figure out my own place in this epidemic and how to protect myself. Since then, I’ve been doing HIV/AIDS research for 20 years.’

London, a sociology professor at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs is not only an HIV/AIDS researcher, but also a co-director of Syracuse University’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender studies minor.

London explained that there was an enormous effort put forth toward developing a minor curriculum in such a field.

By collecting courses from a variety of SU’s colleges and academic programs, he has helped to develop one of the nation’s top LGBT programs. He said that in a recent study to determine gay-friendliness of college campus, SU scored a rare five stars.

In addition to education, London helped organize the HIV/AIDS, Gender and Sexuality in a Globalized World conference on Sept. 27-28 in the Hall of Languages.

The conference has been a focus of London’s attention for more than a year. As one of the main organizers, he invited many of the conference’s presenters.

The conference featured lectures on photojournalism, child marriage in Ethiopia, tourism, contraception’s place in the Quran and other topics, all focusing on the worldwide HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The variety is thanks in part to London, who drew on his 20 years of experience in the field. When one guest lecturer, Carrie Foote-Ardah, began her presentation, she took a moment to specifically thank London for his help while she was a doctoral student.

Jeremy Brunson, a current doctoral student of London’s, is grateful for his mentor’s experience. Brunson said that while his research topic of disabilities isn’t directly related to London’s area of research, he was still very familiar with the literature and able to put Brunson in contact with the right people.

‘It’s my experience that he has a very hands-off approach,’ Brunson said. ‘Until you call on him, and once you indicate to him that you need assistance, (then) he gives it 110 percent.’

Tre Wentling, another doctoral student, is often surprised by London’s commitment to his students.

‘I was going to belivingout of state for the summerand he agreed tosponsoran independent study with me,’ Wentling wrote in an e-mail. ‘For this, we set-up routine conference calls to discuss the progressionof my research. They were not time-limited conversations, but ratherexhaustive and just as productive as face-to-face meetingsusually are.’

London’s love of research expands beyond specific projects. He said that he is one the few professors who enjoy teaching SOC 308, Introduction to Research.

His students seem to notice.

‘He explains things in a lot of detail,’ said Ashley Kingsford, a senior psychology and sociology major who is currently taking London’s class.

‘At first, I was kind of hesitant because it seemed really complicated, but he made it more interesting, and actually, I’m starting to enjoy it.’

London credits his entry into education to his family atmosphere. As a child growing up 40 minutes outside of Boston, his parents would often take him and his siblings into the city to expose them to its rich culture.

‘Our parents were pretty middle-class,’ he said. ‘They didn’t have a lot of money, so they would take us to Boston to expose us to things. They couldn’t afford to take us to Europe or anything like that, so they would take us to Montreal or Quebec City because that was the closest they could get to another culture.’

While on these trips, his parents would often stop to take the family on college tours whenever they were nearby. Emphasizing education was important to them, he said.

It was on one of those trips that he discovered McGill University.

‘I got accepted to NYU, Berkeley, and McGill University in Montreal,’ he said. ‘I just loved having this experience of living outside the U.S. I knew New York City pretty well, and I had a lot of friends who were going there, but I just decided that I wanted the opportunity to be in a different culture, even though it was still close to home.’

And as an out, gay 18 year old, choosing University of California, Berkeley, in San Francisco seemed like the logical choice to London. But that was a long way from his Massachusetts home.

‘San Francisco might have been a dream come true,’ he said. ‘But committing to being that far away for the whole four years seemed too far.’

London is fully aware of the ironies in his decision. As a high school student, London took a semester abroad in Morocco, living with a family in Tangier.

And one could argue that Morocco is a lot more exotic than Montreal.

But family was a priority then and it remains a priority now.

His family has been a tremendous source of pride for London. His brother is two-and-a-half years older, his sister is five years younger and all three siblings have gone into education and are currently teachers.

‘I’ve been close with both of my siblings,’ London said.

London acted as an officiant for his sister’s wedding to her partner. He said that he, his sister and both of their partners are very close.

‘They were the witnesses at our wedding in Montreal last year,’ London said. ‘And I was the officiant at her wedding this year, which was nice.’

London said he wouldn’t be the same person without the environment provided by his family experience.

‘It was foundational to the person I’ve become,’ he said. ‘I think that it gave me a taste of diversity. Diversity in experience, diversity of different cultures and languages and ways of expressing yourself.’

Published on October 2, 2007 at 12:00 pm