New Symposium Honors Lee Professor
The Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Lee University recently held the first annual Ollie J. Lee Symposium to honor Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Dr. Ollie Lee. Students in anthropology, psychology and sociology presented their original research for the symposium.
Dr. Ollie Lee joined the Lee faculty in 1967 and has served for 43 years in numerous roles including Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dean of College of Arts and Sciences, and Chair of the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences.
“The Lee University of 2011 is significantly different from the Lee College of 1967, and much of the hard, behind-the-scenes work of that transformation has been done by Ollie Lee. He has been one of the most significant architects of Lee’s institutional structure, including chairing the committee that wrote Lee’s present mission statement and formulating the institutional goals,” commented Dr. Carolyn Dirksen, Vice President of Academic Affairs.
The Ollie J. Lee Symposium featured 18 student presenters, six in each academic discipline for anthropology, psychology and sociology. Research papers presented included a paper given by Pradip Subedi, a Nepali anthropology major, titled “Comparison of Women in Ecuador: Quichua, Mestizo and Huaorani Indians”; a paper by Donald Carpenter, a psychology major, titled, “Comparing Eastern and Western Ideas of Self and the Effects on Relationships”; and Lea Brewery, a senior in sociology, presenting a sociological review of Harriet Martineau, mother of sociology.
“When we decided to create this event, the faculty in our department unanimously decided that we should name this symposium after our esteemed colleague,” noted Dr. Jeff Sargent, Department Chair of Behavioral and Social Sciences.
Sargent concluded, “We are really proud of the research that our students have been presenting at regional conferences. The Ollie J. Lee symposium will provide them with an opportunity to present their work locally and to an audience of their professors and peers.”
The Department plans to annually host the Lee symposium to honor Professor Lee.
(Source: Lee University)
