Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas
Dr. Beth Lewis is a fourth generation native East Texan and currently serves as the Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi. She has more than 32 years’ experience in higher education instruction and administration, with 29 of those years in Texas community colleges and universities. Dr. Lewis also serves as the institutional liaison for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. Additionally, she has been active in multiple chambers of commerce, civic organizations, and non-profit boards.
Prior to Del Mar College, Dr. Lewis served as President of College of the Mainland in Galveston County for three and a half years. She was also the founding Vice President of Academic Affairs at Northeast Lakeview College of the Alamo Colleges System in San Antonio. Dr. Lewis served as Dean of Off-Campus Programs and Dean of Academic Affairs at Blinn College in Brenham, and worked as the District Director of New Program Development and Evaluation for the North Harris Montgomery Community College District (now Lone Star College System) in Houston. Her classroom teaching experience includes serving as a full-time faculty member in English for two community colleges and as an adjunct faculty member in the Educational Leadership Doctorate Program at Sam Houston State University.
Dr. Lewis earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Texas at Austin, a Master of Arts degree in English, and a doctorate in Educational Leadership, both from Sam Houston State University. She brings credentials as a Certified Mediator in Workplace Conflict, in Crisis Leadership in Higher Education from Harvard University, and Incident Command Systems from the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA.
On a national level, Dr. Lewis served a three-year term on the American Association of Community College’s Commission on Economic and Workforce Development, and she was selected by her peers for a National Institute of Staff and Organizational Development Excellence Award. She served two years as an Honorary Commander for the 902nd Mission Support Group at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, and she was named an Executive Fellow in Viticulture and Oenology by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
In her spare time, Dr. Lewis volunteers for a golden retriever rescue organization and spends as much time as she can in state and national parks with her husband and dogs.