Students of Rebecca Lewis often don’t have to wait long before they get a chance to apply her lessons in the real world. 

Many of her former students work as planners in city, county, and state governments and nonprofit organizations, using the knowledge gleaned from her classes and applying it to current public policy. 

“We’re producing and cultivating expertise,” said Lewis, an associate professor in the School of Planning, Public Policy and Management and director of the Institute for Policy Research and Engagement. 

For instance, after Lewis re-designed one of her long-standing classes to focus on a pressing public policy issue – the housing shortage in Oregon – one of her graduate students who took the class was hired by the city of Eugene. His job: integrating new state policy on housing production strategies and climate-friendly equitable communities into city policy. 

For her efforts in designing and teaching courses that prepare her students for the working world, Lewis was awarded the Herman Award for Specialized Pedagogy. She was recognized for demonstrating “unparalleled excellence in teaching, significantly contributing to student learning at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.” 

Her students agree, awarding her the Excellence in Teaching Award four times since 2016. Lewis has been a professor at the UO since 2013 and spent six months as a visiting scholar and lecturer at Malmö University in Sweden in 2022. 

Her background is in planning and public policy, including city planning, public budgeting, housing and land use. 

“My teaching focuses a lot on applications of what students are learning in the classroom, and how students can take that knowledge put it into practice,” she said.  

When she revamped a class to align with recent state changes to housing policy, she engaged students in practical, hands-on activities that relate to current events and topics, she said. For instance, she assigned students to make recommendations and evaluations of city plans in a manner that replicated the type of documents students would have to write in a public planning job. At the end of term, students had to present their findings to a city council or a mock city council.  

Students are often intimidated by these types of assignments, “but one of the things I emphasize is building confidence and giving them tools to succeed,” she said. “They have something important to contribute and should use their voices to weigh in on important public issues.”  

Benjamin Clark, director of PPPM, cited her design of courses and assignments that help create connections between the classroom experience and the professions students will be joining post-graduation. That connection between the professional world and the classroom also is a common thread in student feedback. 

“Her assignments allowed me to think on my own and apply concepts to real life in Eugene,” said one student. Another said assignments were “very real, applicable, current.” 

Clark also credited Lewis for taking inclusion seriously in her classroom, for incorporating student feedback and perspectives into her courses, and for taking active learning to the next level by using class discussions and activities to spark interesting ideas and ground concepts in the real world.  

“This class was hard,” one student commented, “but she did a good job helping us get there.”  

Lewis learned of the Herman Award last spring when she came to campus for an Institute staff meeting. She said she was slightly alarmed when she saw the dean and department head in the room. 

“This can’t be good,” she thought to herself.  

Vice provost for academic affairs Renee Irvin, who is a former PPPM faculty member, walked into the room and announced she had won the award. 

“I was definitely surprised and a little overwhelmed and really honored and humbled to receive this award,” she said.  

— By Tim Christie, Office of the Provost Communications