Robert E. Lewis received his B.A. degree from Princeton University in 1959 and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from The University of Pennsylvania in 1962 and 1964, respectively. He was appointed to the faculty of Indiana University in 1963 and rose to the rank of professor in 1975. Lewis joined the University of Michigan faculty in 1982 as professor and co-editor of the Middle English Dictionary ( MED ) and research scientist and was promoted to editor in 1983. He was named executive director of the MED in 1990. Begun in 1930, the MED survived the Depression and World War II and is the most important research project in the humanities to date at the University of Michigan. In 2001, the printed dictionary arrived at the end of the alphabet, and almost simultaneously the electronic version came on line completely searchable and available for supplementation and correction. With more than 15,000 printed pages, the MED is a centerpiece for research in medieval English culture. Lewis also contributed to medieval studies, particularly in his essays on Chaucer and the Prick of Conscience . A skilled bibliographer, Lewis was co-editor of the Index of Printed Middle English Prose (1985). Upon his retirement in 2003, Lewis was named professor emeritus of English language and literature, executive director emeritus of the Middle English Dictionary, and research scientist emeritus.
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Source: Proceedings of the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan, December 2003.
From the guide to the Robert E. Lewis papers, 1972-2010, 1972-1985, (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)
