Dr. Heidi R. Lewis

David & Lucile Packard Professor of Feminist & Gender Studies at Colorado College, Inaugural Editor-in-Chief of Oxford Bibliographies in Gender & Women's Studies, and Series Editor of Expanding Frontiers: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality

Service

My service illustrates a commitment to broad, yet meaningful, impact and to being a trusted thought partner. Often, my service is voluntary. In addition to my standard committee assignments, I have served on promotion committees for faculty in Film & Media Studies, Race, Ethnicity, & Migration Studies, and Southwest Studies; I served on the Academic Advisory Council to the former Acting Co-Presidents; I was inaugural Chair of the Community Safety & Accountability Committee; and I co-conducted external reviews for The Butler Center and Outdoor Education—to name a few examples. In all cases, my service on campus and off unapologetically prioritizes the people and communities most vulnerable to systematic and systemic subjugation and oppression.

As Director of Feminist & Gender Studies (including terms as Interim and Associate Director before I earned tenure), I spearheaded several groundbreaking initiatives that reshaped the department to be more consistent with the dynamic contours of the field and the changing landscape of higher education:

  • collaboratively secured two additional tenure-track lines,
  • led the committee that guided Rushaan Kumar through a successful third-year review,
  • led the committee that guided Nadia Guessous through tenure,
  • created the first Artist-in-Residence position,
  • developed the inaugural Advisory Board,
  • secured the largest singular donation in the department’s history,
  • secured the first donation earmarked for community engaged off campus study,
  • secured approval from the former Dean of Faculty for the Marsha P. Johnson Professorship,
  • secured funding to create twelve student office assistant positions,
  • developed a chapter of the Iota Iota Iota (Triota) National Honor Society,
  • secured funding to ensure the three Triota officers can attend the National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) conference annually at no cost.

As a result of my commitment to transformative and collaborative leadership, at least in part, the department’s most recent external review declared Feminist & Gender Studies to be a “strong, cutting-edge, BIPOC-forward, trans and nonbinary-affirming academic unit.” Subsequently, we secured an additional tenured faculty line and the first operating budget increase in over a decade, along with transitioning to an academic department.

At the college wide level, I routinely collaborate with the Butler Center, Innovation Institute, Collaborative for Community Engagement, Career Center, and other co-curricular entities. I also co-created the #FemSTEMSymposium with Dean Andrea Bruder. This symposium was designed to illustrate how the study of power necessitates creative and multidisciplinary approaches developed by intellectuals within and outside the academy, including those less obviously connected than others. The idea arose during a challenging conversation about racism among chairs and directors after I suggested faculty develop stronger professional relationships to aid in identifying collaborative possibilities and collective capacity. I then invited Dr. Bruder to see Hidden Figures so we could organize one of the first symposium events, a screening of the film and subsequent discussion featuring Desirae Martinez (‘13), the first student to graduate with a major in Mathematics and minor in Feminist & Gender Studies. Since then, Andrea and I have collaborated with Neuroscience, Biology, Chemistry, and other departments, as well as student organizations like the Feminist Collective and Association for Women in Mathematics to feature a broad range of racially diverse intellectuals simultaneously committed to feminist inquiry and STEM.

My ability to model and facilitate creative and collaborative approaches to teaching, research, and service also led to my appointment as inaugural Coordinator of Early Career Faculty Development Programs. This office was created by former Dean Claire Garcia to support the college’s antiracism and retention commitments; to facilitate a college-wide shift regarding early career faculty development from a hierarchical, disempowering approach to one that recognizes the skills and talents of early career faculty and fosters impactful collaboration; and to situate the college as a premier site for faculty development. In this role, I directed the Riley Scholars-in-Residence Program and the Mentoring Alliance Program (MAP). I co-created the latter with Associate Vice President Peony Fhagen to facilitate interdisciplinary and collective support for early career faculty and to support mid-career faculty developing their capacity for robust, intentional mentoring. Of note, MAP was not mandatory for tenure-track faculty hired prior to its creation. Still, 13 chose to opt-in. Relatedly, no full-time visiting faculty were required to participate, but 11 chose to during the program’s second year. In summation, MAP served 45 early career faculty with just over half choosing to participate, a testament to my commitment to boundary spanning work.

I have also developed expansive professional relationships and community partnerships off campus to facilitate transformative teaching, research, and community engagement. Through teaching abroad in Berlin for almost 10 years, I have gained meaningful experiences partnering transnationally, including regular collaborations with the Kampagne für Opfer Rassistischer Polizeigewalt (Campaign for Victims of Racist Police Violence), which aims to address institutional racism in the justice system, as well as Generation Adefra, a cultural-political forum by and for Black women. At the national level, I have been a committed member of NWSA for 15 years, resulting in my election to the Secretary and President positions. As Secretary, I organized the 2022 chairs and directors meeting, “Chairing and Directing to Transgress,” to honor the late bell hooks. I also organized the subsequent meeting focused on resisting the racist policies impacting higher education throughout the nation but especially in Florida. More recently, I was selected by the Women of Color Caucus to co-chair the Women of Color Leadership Project for the 2023 conference. Locally, I have collaborated with the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, Theatreworks, Citizens Project, Personal Parker Care Homes, and other organizations to co-organize workshops, seminars, classroom discussions, and student internships. I have also been invited to participate in the Chinook Center People’s College, which is free, open to the public, and situated in one of the most racially diverse neighborhoods in the city. While I am a proud academic, I am also critical of and committed to resisting hierarchies that situate academic institutions as separate from and more significant than others in our various communities.