Levi, Judith N.

Born in New York City, Judith Naomi Levi received her Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy in 1964 from Antioch College in Ohio. Her minor field of study was foreign languages, and she spent the 1962-1963 academic year abroad at the Université de Besançon in France. Levi went on to study linguistics at the University of Chicago, where she received both her Master of Arts degree (1972) and her Ph.D. (1975). She began her career in the Linguistics Department of Northwestern University as a lecturer in Modern Hebrew in 1972. She became a linguistics instructor in 1973, and was promoted to assistant professor in 1975. She became an associate professor in 1979, and was given the title of associate professor emeritus in 2001.

Levi was active in the Linguistics Department and the university. She was the Linguistics Department chair from 1985-1989, and she served as both director of the graduate program and of graduate admissions for different years in the 1990s. She also worked on the theoretical linguistics, undergraduate curriculum and undergraduate honors committees as well as several search committees throughout her career. Levi was active in the University Senate, and worked on a number of committees for the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), including promotion and tenure and the freshman seminar committees. She also served as the CAS Assistant Dean for Freshman (1991-1994) and was a faculty associate for the Women's Studies Residential College, the Shepard Residential College, and the International Studies Residential College.

One of Levi's main research interests was theoretical linguistics, particularly lexical semantics (word meaning) and morphology (word formation). Her second research interest, language and the law, led her to develop several courses based on the topic for the Linguistics Department, including one freshman level and one graduate level seminar. She began giving presentations and writing about language and the law early in her career, resulting in numerous publications and dozens of presentations. She co-organized a Georgetown University conference, “Language in the Judicial Process,” in 1985 as well as the Northwestern University conference, “What is Meaning in a Legal Text?” in 1995. The Georgetown University conference papers were published in 1990, with Levi as an editor. Levi's extensive research led her to serve as a witness in approximately thirty civil, criminal, and administrative court cases from 1978 on. She consulted as an expert witness in over five of these cases.

From the guide to the Judith N. Levi (1944- ) Papers, 1969-2000, 1972-2000, (Northwestern University Archives)