Jennifer Lewis
Director, Center for Community Design and Preservation
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Jennifer Lewis is the Director of the Center for Community Design and Preservation (CCDP), the Public Service and Outreach unit of the UGA College of Environment and Design. In this role, she fosters community engagement, service-learning, and collaborative partnerships that benefit students, faculty, staff, UGA’s public service and outreach units, and communities across Georgia. She also leads the college’s design charrette program, a hands-on service-learning experience that enables students to participate in collaborative visioning workshops that support Georgia communities in shaping their futures.
Jennifer’s expertise includes service-learning pedagogy, community engagement strategies, and preservation-based planning. She has extensive experience in downtown revitalization programs, historic preservation commission activities, historic district design review, and design charrettes—key tools that help communities safeguard their cultural heritage while navigating sustainable growth.
A dedicated leader in public service and preservation, Jennifer is an alumna of the 2019 Public Service and Outreach (PSO) Facilitation Academy, the 2018 Vivian H. Fisher PSO Leadership Academy, and the 2011 PSO Service-Learning Fellowship. She has served on the Board of Trustees for Historic Athens for a total of 10 years, holding leadership roles including as its President and Chair of both the Preservation Awards and the organization’s 50th Anniversary Committee. She has served Georgia as Certified Local Government Coordinator and as Design Manager for the statewide Better Hometown Program.