Meet Xavier’s Newest Professor-Alumna: Sandi Lewanika

October 30, 2022

By Amadeus Swagerty, Staff Writer

Xavier’s music department mourned the loss of their long-time colleague and department head Dr. Tim Turner in May 2022. In keeping his legacy and the department’s traditions going, Xavier’s musical traditions are remaining strong with alumna like Sandi Lewanika, who joined the department in Fall 2022 and is an accomplished pianist and coloratura soprano.

Question: What persuaded you to come back and teach at Xavier?

Answer: There’s just an indescribable love you have, after you graduate from Xavier and I definitely have seen the music department have its ups and downs and I wanted to be a part of adding to make the department even better. So I think that is what persuaded me to come back and teach at Xavier, my love for Xavier and the community. The students. I mean, I want my students to have that same, you know, opportunity to bond with their teachers and have very good relationships with the teachers and build their foundation and build their careers.

Q: What’s a misconception you feel people have about you?

Answer: I feel like people see me and say, oh my gosh, she’s so young and they associate being young with not having a lot of experience, especially in life or in just academia or the field that I’m in. So I think that is a common misconception people have but I actually have a lot of experience.

I’ve taught overseas, I performed overseas, I’ve been teaching really since I was in high school. I mean, on a, on the smallest scale just, you know, working in churches and stuff. I was like the choir director and like that, go-to music person, people always needed tutoring. So I think that kind of helped me develop myself as a professor.

Q: How do you approach teaching students at Xavier that would differ if you were at a Predominantly White Institution?

Answer: I’ve taught at a PWI, and it’s just very different because of how they may see you as a black instructor or, you know, just different things that could happen, microaggressions, all of those things. So I feel like teaching at an HBCU you don’t necessarily have to worry about that part. Like, having to constantly prove yourself to your students or having to worry about, are they going to try to touch your hair or disrespect you in a microaggressive way.

I’m very very bubbly and, you know, energetic and I just like to reach people on a personal level and inspire them on a personal level. So, I think that approach – it’s not just that, it can happen at PWIs but it’s just more authentic for me, at Xavier, a HBCU.

Q: When was the moment that you realized you chose the right school?

Answer: I think this is all been divine, like divine timing for me. So I knew from the moment that even before I got on campus, like, when I was interviewing, I kind of knew, because it was just like, oh, such a positive experience from that point.

And then even getting into faculty orientation meeting colleagues and I was also just a really good experience and then getting to know my students, that was also just a very good experience. But I think the moment Where was just like, okay, I’m good, I’m safe, I’m doing what I need to do, was when a student was just like, you know, I really like coming in here. I was like “what?” So I feel like in that moment, I was like, wow, okay, this is very divine for me. And this is like, it feels right.