Engaged Students

At Lee, students will have many opportunities to gain hands-on experience in their field of study. Education majors, as well as all majors with a teacher licensure, will complete a semester worth of student teaching consisting of two, six week placements. Majors including Accounting, Business, Church Music, Intercultural Studies, Communication, Public Relations, Telecommunication, Theatre, Political Science, Athletic Training, Children’s Ministry, Discipleship Ministry, Youth Ministry, and Pastoral Ministry require at least one internship.

All students complete a study abroad trip where they will get to experience life in another culture, while getting credit in their area of study. OPEN Doors ranks our study abroad program as #1 in the nation. With over 30 trips to choose from, Lee students study abroad in places like Egypt, England, Scotland, China, Australia, Israel, South America and more.

Lee also prides itself on not only community service, but a lifestyle of service learning. In 2011, Lee was ranked #13 among the 20 Colleges Most Committed to Community Service by USA Today College. Students will complete 80 hours of service during their four years at Lee. Service learning is an integral part of the Lee experience and the core of the University.

Great Teaching

• With more than 50 classes that are service enhanced, students do some kind of community service that is directly related to what they are learning. (For example, the Public Relations class creates a campaign for a local non-profit; a drawing class makes portraits of people in an assisted care facility; members of the Communication Capstone class do interviews and create videos of the life stories of people in assisted care.)

• Students in languages classes have a language cafe where they meet for two hours a week in small groups to speak with a thoroughly trained, native speaker using the forms and vocabulary they have covered in class.

• Most of the computer labs on campus are "social labs" which are arranged to allow collaboration on projects and research. We also have a "war room" in the Business Department with a stock ticker and other instant financial information that students use to prepare for group presentations.

• For every ENGL 105 class, there is a writing studio. In the studio, students work collaboratively with peers to improve their writing skills under the guidance of a carefully trained junior or senior English major. All writing studios are seminar style with enhanced technology.

• All of the new buildings have group study spaces to encourage community, even while learning.

• Kairos Scholars is one of the larger honors societies on campus. Through this group, students grapple with controversial and complex topics across disciplines.

Vibrant Community

With over 80 clubs on campus, it is easy for students to get involved. No matter what your passion is, there is a club for you! Clubs range in topic from social justice, to social service, to honors and academic clubs.

Lee University believes that spiritual growth is vital to a well-rounded college experience. Every Tuesday and Thursday mornings, the campus comes together to worship and hear from challenging speakers such as Louie Giglio, Reggie Dabbs, Ravi Zacharias, Jentezen Franklin, along with local pastors and Lee faculty. Lee also sets aside a week each semester to refocus on Christ and gather as a community of believers. This week, called Convocation, is dedicated to campus wide spiritual renewal.

Beyond the campus, Lee University is located just 30 minutes from the Ocoee River. The area offers: white water rafting, kayaking, and canoeing; hiking trails and rock climbing. Chattanooga, TN is just 30 the opposite way offering numerous professional opportunities, as well as concert venues, movie theatres, retail stores, parks, and restaurants.

Successful Outcomes

Lee prepares students for success after college by using five benchmark points:

• Level of academic challenge
  • Challenging intellectual and creative work is central to student learning and collegiate quality.  Lee promotes high levels of student achievement by emphasizing the importance of academic effort and setting high expectations for student performance.

• Active and collaborative learning
  • Students learn more when they are intensely involved in their education and are asked to think about and apply what they are learning in different settings.  During their time at Lee they will collaborate with others in solving problems and mastering difficult material to prepare them to deal with the messy, unscripted problems they will encounter daily during and after college.

• Student-Faculty interaction
  • Students at Lee see first-hand how experts think about and solve practical problems by interacting with faculty members inside and outside the classroom.  As a result, their professors become role models, mentors, and guides for continuous, life-long learning.

• Enriching educational experiences
  • At Lee, students receive complementary learning opportunities, inside and outside the classroom, to augment the academic program. Internships, community service, and senior capstone courses provide students with opportunities to synthesize, integrate, and apply their knowledge.  Such experiences make learning more meaningful and, ultimately, more useful because what students know becomes a part of who they are.

• Supportive campus environment
  • Lee is committed to the success of their students and cultivates positive working and social relations among different groups on campus.

Since 2003 Lee has been on an upward trend for each benchmark.