Dion Warrington Lewis
Assistant Dean and Director of the Luther P. Jackson Black Cultural Center
Office of African-American Affairs
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904
Tel: (434) 924-7923
Fax: (434) 924-0513
Mr. Lewis graduated from Rutgers College of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey with a Bachelor's of Arts with a dual major in History and Sociology with a minor in Africana Studies. He completed his Master's in Education degree from Rutgers University-Graduate School of Education in Sociological and Philosophical Foundations of Education.
Mr. Lewis served as Assistant Director of the Paul Robeson Cultural Center of Rutgers University from 1997 - 2005. Within this position he worked to provide cultural enrichment; and sought to establish positive relations and enlightenment of the African Diaspora of an academic, cultural and humanitarian nature within the University community and for the State of New Jersey. During his tenure he helped to organize a 1.4 million dollar Centennial Celebration (1998) entitled Paul Robeson: Artist and Citizen which included a book of essays (under the same title) on the life and times of Paul Robeson, a children's play on Robeson which actor/playwright Ossie Davis was commissioned to write and museum exhibition which opened at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum of Rutgers University and traveled to the Smithsonian Institution National Portrait Gallery, California's African American Museum and The Museum of the City of New York.
Mr. Lewis also helped establish the Juvenile Justice Commission and Rutgers University Annual Youth Summit (2001) in which 400-500 adjudicated youth of New Jersey are exposed to a day of workshops and activities at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
In 2002, 2003, and 2004 Mr. Lewis was the recipient of the distinguished Fulbright-Hays Scholar's Abroad Program administered by the U.S. Department of State. He has had the opportunity to visit, conduct research, and work with educators throughout the southern region of Africa, including Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe. In addition, he serves as the Co-Chair for the Hlomisa Project which helps to feed, clothe and educate orphaned and/or homeless children in southern Africa.
Currently Mr. Lewis is Assistant Dean in the Office of African-American Affairs and Director of the Luther P. Jackson Black Cultural Center of the University of Virginia. In this role he is responsible for coordinating and implementing cultural programs and activities for the University of Virginia and surrounding community.
Professional affiliations include being a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the past President of the Rutgers University African-American Alumni Alliance, Rutgers University Samuel DeWitt Proctor Chair Committee, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), New Jersey State HIV Prevention Community Planning Group, Middlesex County Youth Advocate Program Hlomisa Project, Charlottesville City Council, and the Dialogue on Race Committee.