Fellow teaches perseverance, service

For Allan J. Cigler Honors Faculty Fellow Melinda Lewis, a commitment to social justice has taken many forms, from a Truman Scholarship earned as a KU honors student to Costa Rican partnerships recognized with a 2024 International Affairs Advisory Board International Teaching Award.

After years of community organizing and advocacy with Latino immigrant communities, Lewis returned to KU as an instructor and researcher for the School of Social Welfare. Now, as an Honors Faculty Fellow, she shares her passion for social work with honors students.

The fall 2025 semester was Lewis’ first teaching her honors seminar, “Feeling the Heat: Emotions for Personal and Climate Resilience.” The course examines grief and anxiety around climate change, as well as joy and awe inspired by the natural world, and how these emotions can catalyze climate action.

In the HNRS 190 course, Lewis’ students studied community-centered practices inspired by wisdom from multiple perspectives. To support individual and collective well-being, they discussed practical resilience strategies, like mindful journaling and spending time in nature.

Said Lewis, “it’s going to take emotional work to change our culture without toggling back and forth between burnout and tuning out.”

Lewis, whose son Samuel is currently a junior in the program, described her work as an Honors Faculty Fellow as “joyful” and likes talking to students about public service and building relationships outside of our national borders.

“It feels like a total treat,” said Lewis, “to find that, many years after being a part of the honors program myself, I still have something to add that could map on to some part of a student’s experience.”