Earl Lewis
Thomas C. Holt Distinguished University Professor, University of Michigan
Earl Lewis is the Thomas C. Holt Distinguished University Professor of history, Afroamerican and African Studies, and Public Policy and director of the Center for Social Solutions at the University of Michigan. From March 2013-2018, he served as President of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
A noted author and esteemed social historian, he is past President of the Organization of American Historians. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2008) and the American Academy of Political & Social Sciences (2022), he is the recipient of twelve honorary degrees, and the National Humanities Medal (2023).
Lewis has held faculty and administrative appointments at Michigan (1989-2004) and the University of California, Berkeley (1984-89). From 2004-2012, he served as Emory University’s Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of History and African American Studies.
In addition to prior service on a number of nonprofit and governmental boards, Lewis chaired the board of Regents at Concordia College-Moorhead, is a trustee and chair of the board of ETS, secretary of the board of trustees of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a director of 2U and the Capital Group, American Funds.