Career
In addition, he was the first American Indian tenured in the University of Wisconsin system, first American Indian Full Professor in the field of Social Work, and first American Indian to hold the position of "Dean" in Canada. Born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, Doctor Lewis had his first academic appointment in 1975 at the University of Oklahoma, School of Social Work. From there Doctor Lewis was tenured at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Arizona State University, and at the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College as Dean.
Additionally, Doctor Lewis has guest lectured across the country at universities for 30 years.
Beyond the academic world, Doctor Lewis was a psychiatric social worker who developed mental health programs for American Indians at the Tahlequah and Claremore Indian Hospitals in Oklahoma and later for the state of Oklahoma. As the director of the Indian Liaison Office at the Fitzsimons Medical Hospital in Denver, he worked with returning American Indian Vietnam veterans.
Doctor Lewis also trained hospital and medical personnel about culturally appropriate services for American Indians. Always a political activist, during this time Doctor Lewis was also at the Wounded Knee Incident in 1973 and the Alcatraz takeover.
Landmark legislation concerning culturally appropriate services for American Indian people is an important part Doctor Lewis’s work.
Well known as a leading expert on American Indian social problems, he has published extensively on federal policy in Indian Country, child abuse and neglect, and alcoholism and the American Indian (which became a special report to the United States Congress in 1980). He and his work also contributed to the creation of the Indian Child Welfare Acting in 1978. Doctor Lewis has made contributions to American Indian issues at every level, including meetings with United States. presidents, reports to Congress, and creating curriculum at universities.
