On April 17,
2018, the Kentucky Board of Education named Dr. Wayne D. Lewis Jr. the interim
commissioner of education, and on October 3, 2018 named him Commissioner. Dr.
Lewis has more than 15 years of experience in education. His resume includes
experience in public school districts, postsecondary institutions, and in state
government. He has worked as a classroom teacher, teacher educator,
postsecondary faculty member and program administrator at the undergraduate and
graduate levels, and as an executive administrator in state government. His
education, training, and combination of experiences across the education
continuum make him particularly well-suited to lead state-level education
policy reform.
Prior to his
appointment as Commissioner, Dr. Lewis served as an appointed advisor to the
Kentucky Board of Education, the Education & Workforce Secretary's Designee
on Kentucky's Early Childhood Advisory Council (ECAC), and chair of Kentucky's
Charter Schools Advisory Council. His published research and writing over the
last decade has been in the areas of education policy and politics,
school-family-community engagement, and school choice. His research has been at
the local, state, and national levels, and has been in American and
international contexts.
Commissioner
Lewis completed undergraduate studies at Loyola University New Orleans. He
earned a master's degree in Urban Studies with a concentration in Public
Administration at The University of Akron, completed a post-baccalaureate
teacher preparation program in special education at The University of New
Orleans, and earned a Ph.D. in Educational Research and Policy Analysis with a
cognate in Public Administration at North Carolina State University.