Melinda Lewis

Melinda Lewis is a Professor of Practice in the School of Social Welfare at the University of Kansas. Her teaching is concentrated primarily in the School’s graduate program, particularly within macro social work and policy courses. She is also Director of the School’s Center on Community Engagement and Collaboration, where she leads the School’s efforts in lifelong learning, public scholarship, and support for community-engaged research and relationships. She works with key community partners, represents the School of Social Welfare in university and regional community engagement efforts, and serves as an ambassador for the School and the profession in community coalitions and related initiatives. This role builds on Melinda’s decades of work with nonprofit organizations to enhance their strategic communications, advocacy strategy development and execution, and evaluation of social change efforts, focused on the substantive domains of economic justice, family support, and human rights. Since 2022, Melinda has been the faculty lead for the School’s International Social Work study abroad program in Costa Rica, which includes teaching internationally and guiding the School’s continuation of a longstanding international partnership. In 2024, she was awarded the International Affairs Advisory Board International Teaching Award for these roles in the university’s strategic priority of comprehensive internationalization. For five years, Ms. Lewis was Assistant Director of the Center on Assets, Education, and Inclusion, now based at the University of Michigan. At AEDI, she co-authored three books about wealth inequality, student debt, and policies to make education an equitable ladder of upward mobility, as well as peer-reviewed scholarship about asset development approaches. These publications were culminations of Ms. Lewis’ responsibility for translating research on the effects of early children’s assets into materials with direct policy implications and media appeal; supporting scholarship around economic mobility and wealth creation; and advancing the field of Children’s Savings Accounts. With her co-author, Melinda co-hosts the Tangible Hope podcast, talking with scholars and policymakers about the racial wealth gap and justice-forward policy solutions. She is also co-author of the book Social Policy for Effective Practice: A Strengths Approach, which is widely used in BSW and MSW social policy courses in institutions around the country. In addition to service to the School of Social Welfare, Melinda is a Board executive for the national social work organization, Influencing Social Policy, and in Board service to a grassroots nonprofit advancing infant and maternal equity in Wyandotte County, Kansas and the greater Kansas City metropolitan area.