Publicly Engaged Research for Social Justice
Neil Lewis, Jr. is a behavioral and intervention scientist at Cornell University and Weill Cornell Medicine, where he is an associate professor in the department of communication, division of general internal medicine, and graduate field of psychology. He also co-directs Cornell's Action Research Collaborative, which brings together researchers, practitioners, community members, and policymakers to address pressing issues in society. Lewis's research examines how people's social contexts and identities influence: (1) how they interpret and make meaning of the world around them, (2) their motivation to pursue their goals and success in goal pursuit efforts, and (3) the implications of these processes for interventions and policies to promote equity in social outcomes. He has received the Early Career Scholar Award from the International Communication Association (2023), the Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions from the Association for Psychological Science (2022), the Cornell Research and Extension Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Science and Public Policy (2021), and the SAGE Young Scholar Early Career Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (2020).
The 2023-24 Dean's Distinguished Speaker Series aims to facilitate conversation with preeminent scholars in education on Publicly Engaged Research for Social Justice. The speaker series builds on our historic and current University of Illinois efforts related to community and public engagement, and the increasing expectations of addressing issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in schools, workplace, and our general society. Ultimately, the speaker series aims to reimagine our role as university actors, catalysts, and social change agents and to spark ways to take accountability, advocacy, and action amidst the challenges and opportunities of building a more equitable, just, and empowered institution and world.
