Nov 28, 2012
Director of Gulf Coast Safety Institute Cindy Lewis, top, and Distinguished Alumni Jeannie Stevens Myers ride in MacMurray College’s homecoming parade after Lewis received the Distinguished Career Award from the school.

In recognition of her work promoting on-the-job safety, Cindy Lewis, director of the Gulf Coast Safety Institute, has received the Distinguished Career Award from her alma mater MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Il.

“I think the thing I’m most proud of is starting an association between safety and young workers. It was something I could do to make a difference,” said Lewis.
 
Lewis regularly goes to high school classrooms to instruct students about on-the-job safety as part of her voluntary role as the American Society of Safety Engineers chair of training and communications.
 
“The message we’re trying to get out is that [young workers] have rights, as any worker does, and they don’t have to do something unsafe,” said Lewis.
 
As director of the Gulf Coast Safety Institute, Lewis oversees the OSHA Challenge Program, which assists companies in improving their safety and health management programs.
 
Lewis received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from MacMurray College in 1987 and later earned a master’s degree in public health from the University of Illinois at Chicago.