About Tim Lewis

Dr. Tim Lewis began his position as Senior International Officer and Associate Vice Provost for Global Learning and Strategy in February 2017. His areas of responsibility include international students and scholars, international recruitment and admissions, study abroad, English as a second language, student Fulbright scholarships, international risk and compliance, international partnerships and contracts, and support for comprehensive internationalization throughout the St. Thomas community. He was named a 2018-19 Presidential Fellow by the Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA) and completed the AIEA Leadership Academy in 2018.

Prior to his current position as SIO, Dr. Lewis spent several decades as a faculty member and department chair in Biology. One might argue that teaching is in his DNA. In 1990, he began his professional career on the faculty at Wittenberg University in Springfield, OH where he spent nearly two decades teaching, researching, mentoring, and ultimately chairing the Biology department. In 2009, St. Thomas lured him north to be a department chair. He, his wife, and their dog pack made the move and thoroughly enjoy their rural home on the Wisconsin/Minnesota border.

As a faculty member, Dr. Lewis' teaching load has included courses in biology, ecology, environmental science, and scuba. He spent many years directing study abroad courses in The Bahamas and the United Kingdom as well as off-campus courses in U.S. wilderness areas. His international conservation work spans Kenya, China, and Japan. Much of his published research focuses on wild populations of turtles and is conducted in collaboration with undergraduate students. Additional professional work includes the biology of domestic dogs helping humans to understand their canine partners. He recently published a book, the Biology of Dogs: from Gonads through Guts to Ganglia. His MSc and Ph.D. are in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.