Ithaca College Names Leslie W. Lewis As School Of Humanities And Sciences Dean

Dave Maley, 3/26/2008

ITHACA, NY—Ithaca College announced today that Leslie W. Lewis has been named dean of its School of Humanities and Sciences. Lewis is currently completing a two-year interim appointment as dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y. She has also served there as chair of the Department of English and director of the American Studies Program.

“I am delighted to have the opportunity to serve as the next dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences,” said Lewis. “Ithaca College is a wonderful and vibrant academic institution, and I look forward to working with such an outstanding faculty and purposeful students.”

Lewis’s accomplishments at Saint Rose have included instituting a number of important curricular revisions, implementing academic programming for first-year students, developing an interdisciplinary major and developing an urban education certificate for teacher education students. Prior to joining the College of Saint Rose, she had served as an assistant professor and director of the Ethnic/Gender Studies Program at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas.

Lewis holds a Ph.D. in American Literature from Indiana University, an M.A. in English from the University of Virginia, and a B.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland. Her scholarship focuses on African American literature, and her monograph “Telling Narratives: Secrets in African American Literature” was recently published by the University of Illinois Press. She was the coeditor, with Ann Ardis, of “Women’s Experience of Modernity, 1875–1945,” published by Johns Hopkins University Press, and has written articles focused on the works of such writers as John Edgar Wideman and Frances Harper.

“Leslie Lewis exemplifies the model of the teacher-scholar, as well as having strong administrative experience,” said Kathleen Rountree, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Ithaca College. “Her record testifies to her ability to build innovative programs to servestudents while enhancing teaching and scholarship. Her own scholarship in ethnic and gender studies and her experience in interdisciplinary studies and student learning assessment will be extremely valuable in helping Ithaca College achieve its goals in those areas.”

With over 50 degree programs and 2,300 students, the School of Humanities and Sciences is the largest and most diverse of Ithaca College’s five schools. Its offerings encompass the humanities, natural sciences and mathematics, social and behavioral sciences, and fine and performing arts. Howard Erlich, who has served as dean of the school for the past 20 years, announced last fall that he will step down at the conclusion of the current academic year. Lewis will assume the position on July 1, 2008.