Curtis Lewis, Ph. D.

Dr. Curtis Lewis is an assistant professor in the department of teacher education at Michigan State University. He specializes in the philosophy and implementation of restorative practices and culturally sustaining pedagogy in K-12 schools.  His research and experience focus on strategies for recruiting, engaging, and retaining Black male educators in K-12 schools, and the inequities within those schools that prevent students of color from attaining success and a liberatory educational experience. Furthermore, he specializes in K-8 mathematics teaching and learning, school leadership development, and dismantling school structures and practices that devalue students’ voices and obstruct schools’ ability to engage in liberatory educational practices.  Moreover, as a graduate student, Lewis coordinated an intervention program for first-time youth offenders and was Director of a mentoring program for young males of color in Lansing, Michigan as part of a research grant in partnership with Michigan State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In 2017, Dr. Lewis founded Black Male Educators Alliance with the primary goal to recruit, engage, and develop Black male educators. The work has evolved to include the development of Black males and culturally responsive educators who prioritize students’ cultural environment to create liberated learners.

Dr. Lewis is well regarded for his 20+ years of teaching, partaking in research centered around K-12 math instruction; his tenure as a Founding, and Turnaround Principal, and Chief Academic Officer for both traditional and charter school entities in the City of Detroit. Correspondingly, he was honored by the Michigan Chronicle with the Men of Excellence award for his transformative work in the State of Michigan and beyond.

Finally, Dr. Lewis continues his ​​consultative work at NYU’s Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools and is an active board member for the American Montessori Academy in Metropolitan Detroit.