Earl Lewis is a professor of History and Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan and director of the newly-created Center for Social Solutions. From March 2013 to 2018, he served as president of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. An author and esteemed social historian, he was the former president of the Organization of American Historians.
A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008 and the recipient of 11 honorary degrees, Lewis held faculty and administrative appointments at the University of Michigan from 1989 to 2004 and the University of California, Berkeley from 1984 to 1989. From 2004 to 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 chairs the Board of Regents at Concordia College, is a trustee of ETS, and a director of 2U, Inc. and the Capital Group, American Funds. Lewis holds a bachelor's from Concordia College and a master's and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.