The UIS English Department mourns the passing of Professor Ethan Lewis, emeritus faculty member who retired in 2021 after a distinguished 29-year career at UIS. He was a beloved teacher who inspired students to believe in themselves and their potential as thinkers and scholars. Professor Lewis died Monday, September 12, 2023, after a short hospitalization.
After graduating with his Ph.D. from Boston College, Professor Lewis came to UIS in 1993. He specialized in Shakespeare, early seventeenth-century drama, and early twentieth-century modernist poetry. He was selected as University Scholar in 1999, and he received the Pearson Award for distinguished teaching in 2007. He published several books of essays and poetry and co-authored a book with UIS colleague, Emeritus Professor Robert McGregor, entitled Conundrums for the Long Week-End: England, Lord Peter Wimsey, and Dorothy Sayers, which won a National Edgar Award. At Professor Lewis’ retirement gathering in 2022, he said, “[A]ll my books are triggered from interactions with my students. We have all these great discussions, and I am always writing to them.”
Professor Lewis was a shining light in the classroom, full of passion for the written word and absolutely devoted to students finding their own voices.
Scores of students remember his legendary syllabi full of heavy description of this semester’s approach to Six Contemporary Poets, Shakespeare Project, or What is Good. Many students recall his standard reminder that one wipes one’s behind with paper; you are writing an essay! They remember his adamant support of Strunk & White’s principles of clear and effective prose, and the strident reminder not to squander a title. They fondly recall his humane approach to commenting on papers via an authentic question about content or a comparison of their ideas to Robert Lowell’s. Students didn’t just like Professor Lewis’ classes; they loved him.
Professor Lewis’ friends and colleagues, often former students, knew him for his loyalty, his inveterate optimism, and his willingness to help.
All who knew him recognized his kind soul.
A Celebration of Life will be held on UIS’ campus at the Student Union on Sunday, October 1, from 2-4 p.m. Former students are welcome to attend. To honor his dedication to UIS students, the Ethan Lewis Memorial Scholarship Fund has been created. If you are moved to do so, please donate, so his legacy at UIS can live on through students.
UIS English Department
217-206-6779 | eng@uis.edu
One University Plaza
Springfield, Illinois 62703