Judy Erwin joins Lewis College Board of Overseers

Judy Erwin, Managing Director at ASGK Public Strategies in Chicago, has joined the IIT Lewis College of Human Sciences Board of Overseers effective immediately.

Erwin brings to the Board extensive experience in higher education, including five years (2005-2010) as the Executive Director of the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE). Prior to her tenure at IBHE, she was elected to five terms in the Illinois House of Representatives, representing Chicago’s Lincoln Park, Near North, and Loop neighborhoods. While in office, she chaired the House Higher Education Committee and was the Vice Chair of the Higher Education Appropriations Committee.

Erwin worked as a communications senior officer at both Res Public Group and Kemper Lesnik for nearly ten years prior to her time in office, and her vast knowledge of communications strategy will be a boon for Lewis College.

“I am very much looking forward to working with the Board, and I hope that any and all of my experiences can be helpful to the students, graduates, and academic growth of the College,” she says. “IIT helps students connect with the real working world—examining real life issues instead of only the hypothetical. This approach is so much more meaningful to student achievement beyond college. If I can connect the College to new resources and avenues for growth, I am surely happy to do so.”

In addition to serving on Lewis College’s Board of Overseers, Erwin currently serves on the Board of Advance Illinois, an education policy and advocacy nonprofit, the Board of Planned Parenthood of Illinois, and the Board of the Illinois Justice Project.

“I think Lewis College has a lot of potential,” she says. “From what I’ve read, companies like Microsoft and Apple want more than engineers; they want people that can think creatively about peoples’ needs and analyze a situation from multiple angles. That is what Lewis College is training its students to do.”