FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 8, 2008
Contact: Anika Mitchell Perkins
(662) 329-7124

Dr. Delene Willis Lee Scholarship Fund to help non-traditional
students

COLUMBUS, Miss. – A scholarship fund has been established in honor of
Dr. Delene Lee, a former professor of education and human sciences at
Mississippi University for Women.

An anonymous student endowed the Dr. Delene Willis Lee Scholarship Fund to assist other non-traditional students living in a 40-mile radius of MUW with preference given to students from Lowndes County.

In her remarks, the student stated, “`Invocation in education’ best describes Dr. Lee. She came to The W at a time when no one had ever made an effort to support working women and encourage them to consider their jobs as `careers’ rather than just a means to add to the family income.”

Lee was credited for implementing and directing the Leadership Program
for Women, which emphasized education and career development for  women.

“The major goal of the program was to provide a nurturing environment to encourage adult women to return to college to build leadership and management skills,” according to Dr. Gary Bouse, vice president for
institutional advancement.

During her time at MUW, Lee served as vice president for financial affairs and interim president. 

She later accepted a position at Piedmont College in Demorest, Ga., as
vice president for finance and administration, where she worked for 10
years.

Dr. Joyce Hunt, who currently serves as interim dean of the College of Business, met Lee in 1976. Both were first-time faculty at MUW.

“Little did I know then what an impact she would have on my life personally and professionally and upon the lives of hundreds of people.”

“To say that women’s talents were not being utilized in the 1970s would be an understatement. Most of the highly successful working women in business positions were in support roles such as administrative assistants and bank tellers,” Hunt added. “To help our community grow, the resources of all employees needed to be tapped. And the greatest untapped resource at that time was the female resource.”

Hunt said Lee secured federal funding for five years for the leadership program that would forever change the workforce in the area.

“And if she had any doubts about the need of this programs and whether or not it would be embraced by women in our community and the businesses at which they worked, she had those doubts alleviated when on registration night 200 nontraditional women showed up. Our dream was 40; Our goal, 30.”

Hunt said, “If you were to look in the encyclopedia for a real life example of The Butterfly Effect, you would see the picture of Dr. Delene Lee, who by flapping her wings, set into motion a series of relationships that positively changed our university and this community.”

Lee said, “This endowed scholarship in my name is very special—indeed incredible. The students in the Leadership Program were exceptional women, and they also deserve much of the credit for its success. These women who achieved satisfying personal lives and enhanced careers were my reward—this is what it was all about.”