Brian Lewis, PhD

Brian Lewis is professor in the Department of Communication Studies. He had previously served as Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences at Simon Fraser University, and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science at Concordia University.

He completed his undergraduate studies in French and political science at Hamilton College in New York, and received his PhD in Communication and film theory under Dudley Andrew at the University of Iowa. Dr. Lewis teaches filmmaking, film theory, film history, documentary media, cultural policy, communication policy, broadcasting policy, and the management of new technologies. 

His current research interests include communication technology and innovation, communication networks, and minority rights and community vitality.  He has made many films, and is currently working on three projects: a feature length documentary about a family of four unique musical prodigies, a series of 7 documentary portraits of an isolated community at risk of disappearing (Entry Island), and an edited book on Quebec language laws, which will published this spring by Presses de l' Universite Laval. 

Education

BA, French and political science, Hamilton College
MA, Film production, University of Iowa
PhD, Communication and film theory, University of Iowa

Research and artistic interests

• Film and video production (numerous documentary and experimental films produced). Film history and theory, semiotics and phenomenology, comparative communication policy, film and broadcasting policy, film history, history of the family film, and experimental film and video.
• Technology, policy, management of change 
• Emerging innovations in broadband and wireless applications, from technology (network and computational) as well as end-user perspectives.
• Capturing the outcomes and the impacts of federally funded research in the social sciences and the humanities, and issues in the evaluation of research networks.
• Minority rights and community vitality

Books

Books

Lewis, Brian, L. O’Donnell and P. Donovan, eds. Bill 101 and Quebec’s English-speaking Communities, forthcoming, Presses de l’université Laval.

Lewis, Brian, R. Smith & C. Massey. The Tower Under Siege: Technology, Policy and Education. Toronto: McGill-Queens University Press, 2001.

Lewis, Brian. Jean Mitry and the Aesthetics of the Cinema. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1984.

Selected Research Articles and Book Chapters:

Cressman, Darryl, Holbrook, Lewis, and Wixted. “Capturing the Outcomes and Impacts of Publicly Funded Research: a Framework for Evaluating Formal Research Networks,” in draft.

Lewis, Brian. “Jean Mitry,” The Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Film, Oxford: Routledge, 2009.

Lewis, Brian, and J. Jenson. “The Global and the Local: Policy and Policy Processes for Education,” International Electronic Journal for Leadership in Learning, Vol. 7, # 10, October, 2003.

Lewis, Brian, R. Smith and J. Jenson. “Is Policy Important? Technology Policy and its Practices in K-12 Education in Canada,” Alliances, Cooperative Ventures and the Role of Government in the Knowledge-Based Economy, M. Nakamura, Editor. Vancouver: UBC Centre for Japanese Research, 2002.

Lewis, Brian, R. Smith & C. Massey. “Policy Processes for Technological Change,” Cases on Information Technology in Higher Education, L.A. Petrides, Editor. Hershey: IDEA Group Publishing, 2000.

Lewis, Brian. “Forward,” The Aesthetics and Psychology of the Cinema. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000.

Lewis, Brian, R. Smith & C. Massey. “Mirroring the Networked Society: Government Policy, Higher Education and TeleLearning Technology in Canada,” Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol. 24, # 3, 1999.

Lewis, Brian. “National Media Policy in a Global Age? The Case of Japan and Canada,” Asia Pacific Papers, # 4, 1997.

Lewis, Brian. “A Thoroughly Colonized Industry: Canada’s Quiet Subversion,” Film Policy, An Australian Reader, Albert Morin, Editor, Brisbane: Institute for Cultural Policy Studies, 1994.

“Entry Island at the Crossroads: Revitalization of an Island Community Through Heritage,” with  Patrick Donovan and Lorraine O’Donnell, Winnipeg, National  Historic Trust Conference,October, 2019.

“Language Policy and Minority Community Vitality: The Case of Quebec,” with Patrick Donovan and Lorraine O’Donnell, American Council for Québec Studies Biennial Conference, New Orleans, Oct, 2018

“The Charter of the French Language and Quebec’s English-speaking Minority,1977-2017,” with Patrick Donovan and Lorraine O’Donnell, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Multidisciplinary Approaches in Language Policy & Planning Conference, August, 2017

Conference Conveener: “La Charte de la langue française a 40 ans”, L’Association francophone pour le savoir, annual conference, 2017.

Panel Chair, “Les Anglophones et l’économie créative : 

portrait global et statistiques,” 84ièmCongrès de l’Association

francophone pour le savoir (ACFAS), May, 2016

Mot de bienvenue et introduction du conférencier d’honneur, 

Daniel Weinstock, 82ièm Congrès de l’Association francophone pour 

le savoir (ACFAS), 2014

Invited principal speaker and panellist: “Printemps 

Érable: Encountering the Red Square Movement and Reading 

its Mythologies,” 14^thJerusalem Conference in Canadian 

Studies, Hebrew University, May, 2013.

A dozen documentaryand short experimental films produced, including 5 film festival awards:

Ann Arbor FilmFestival; Athens International Film Festival; Santa Clara Film Festival;

Sinking CreekFilm Festival; EKO Film Festival on Environmental Problems, (Czech Republic)

12 “one-person” shows at galleries, museums and universities; 7 group shows; 7film-festival screenings.  

Currently working on two major film projects: a feature length documentary about a family of four unique musical prodigies and a series of 7 documentary portraits of an isolated community at risk of disappearing (Entry Island)