Jayne E. Lewis

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As would be expected of a Distinguished Teaching Award recipient, Jayne Lewis possesses a number of pedagogical strengths. An excellent lecturer, she delivers finely crafted presentations that reveal deep insight and understanding of both her subject and her students. She displays an infectious enthusiasm for literature and teaching, as well as mastery of her course material. A warm, caring and open person, Lewis helps students of diverse backgrounds, abilities and interest find their own voices and improve their critical thinking.

Not surprisingly, Lewis receives rave reviews from her students. For many of them, her instruction and guidance both in and out of the classroom has had a life-altering effect, influencing their decisions to attend graduate school and even teach. While instructing some of the department’s most demanding courses, as well as serving on various undergraduate committees, Lewis’ most important contribution to the program may be her constant and careful attention to student writing with, as one student noted, her constructive criticism “scrawled relentless into every free space your page has to offer.”

Her innovative teaching style turns even the largest lecture hall into an engaging forum, leading classes of up to 250 students in imaginative, stimulating discussions. In the larger, community, Lewis has shared her academic expertise at numerous conferences and workshops, including talks to the UCLA Friends of English, and she assists at the Grunewald Center.

“Reflecting on my years at UCLA, no teacher stands out more clearly in my memory than Jayne Lewis. She possessed the most brilliant mind I’ve ever been exposed to, yet was the most approachable instructor I had the pleasure of studying under. She somehow made the driest and most impossible texts not only digestible, but enjoyable – a talent she never tired of sharing with her students.”